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Connected Nation, Created By Telco Lobbyists, Gets Millions In Gov't Funding
To Hide Broadband Data From The Gov't
,----[ Quote ]
| So it should come as no surprise that (right
| before the holidays) it's been announced that
| a big chunk of broadband stimulus money is
| going to Connected Nation (including, of
| course, in Minnesota). It's a really sweet
| boondoggle. The operation was set up by telco
| industry lobbyists, with the claim that it
| will accurately map broadband penetration (an
| important factor in figuring out a broadband
| plan).
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091223/1246267491.shtml
Comcast Settles Class Action P2P Throttling Case
,----[ Quote ]
| Technology and policy site Ars Technica is
| reporting that Comcast has settled a class
| action law suit filed by users of its
| broadband internet service who allege that
| the Phialdelphia-based cable, telephone, and
| internet service provider was capping their
| download speeds. The caps were levied
| primarily at users of the popular BitTorrent
| protocol, a peer-to-peer file sharing system
| that allows users to download large amounts
| of data in a relatively short time span by
| breaking the files up into small pieces and
| downloading only a few pieces from each user
| on a large network of people who already have
| the file.
`----
http://mobile.phillyist.com/2009/12/23/comcast_settles_class-action_p2p_th.php
Chile Rejects Attempt To Force ISPs To Filter And Block Copyrighted Works
,----[ Quote ]
| What's interesting here (beyond a victory for
| user rights) is that a big part of the
| argument pushed by the entertainment industry
| representatives, was that this law was
| necessary to remain in compliance with trade
| agreements (there they are again) with the
| US. However, it appears that Chilean
| politicians recognized this was a load of
| bunk.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091222/1029097470.shtml
DRM, DMCA and OST (Other Scary Things)
,----[ Quote ]
| It's obvious to most Linux users that Digital
| Rights Management (DRM) is a really bad idea.
| It's not just because DRM-encoded media
| usually won't play with our operating system,
| but rather because we understand the value of
| openness. The really sad part is that DRM, at
| least on some level, is attempting to do a
| good thing.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/drm-dmca-and-ost-other-scary-things
Recent:
Consumer Groups Cry Foul on Comcast's NBC Play
,----[ Quote ]
| Comcast and General Electric's long-
| anticipated merger agreement -- which
| would see see the cable giant take a
| controlling stake in NBC Universal -- is
| already facing strident opposition from
| consumer groups, and concerns from
| lawmakers around the alliance of content
| with distribution.
|
| To critics, the deal to create the
| nation's biggest entertainment
| conglomerate invites a host of scenarios
| where Comcast could unfairly favor NBC
| programming through its television and
| Internet services.
|
| "Antitrust regulators must ensure that all
| content providers are treated fairly on
| the Comcast platform, and that Comcast
| does not get undue advantages in gaining
| access to programming," Sen. Herb Kohl,
| chairman of the Senate antitrust
| subcommittee, said in statement today,
| saying he planned to hold a hearing on the
| matter.
`----
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3851026/
Comcast deploying astroturfing services of Radian6, spying on blog postings
with their services
,----[ Quote ]
| After being angered by yet another Comcast fuckup that led to me being W.O.I.
| (With Out Internet) for over nine hours one day last week, I noticed that
| within the next day, a Comcast ârepresentativeâ under the pseudonym
| of âMelissa Mendozaâ had commented on the post with links to their âsupportâ
| email address.
|
| As Iâve written about before, Microsoft and other large companies often use
| the services of large astroturfing agencies. Microsoft uses one called
| Visible Technologies and apprently Comcast uses one called Radian6.
`----
http://izanbardprince.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/comcast-deploying-astroturfing-services-of-radian6-spying-on-blog-postings-with-their-services/
Comcast Fights FCC Net Neutrality Order
,----[ Quote ]
| The case is important because other broadband ISPs have privately feared the
| FCC order could hold jurisdiction over them as well.
`----
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=180481&site=cdn&f_src=lightreading_gnews
Comcast And Time Warner Team Up To Control What TV You Watch Online
,----[ Quote ]
| So, it was no surprise back in February to hear of plans to make agreements
| between cable companies and content providers that would limit what kind of
| video you could watch online, requiring you to be a cable company subscriber
| and "authenticating" what you could watch. Thus, it should be no surprise
| that Comcast and Time Warner are now announcing exactly that.
`----
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090623/2317425342.shtml
Comcast Intercepts and Redirects Port 53 Traffic
,----[ Quote ]
| If true, this is a pretty serious escalation in the Net Neutrality wars.
| Someone using Comcast, please replicate the simple experiment spelled out in
| the article and confirm or deny the truth of it.
`----
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/09/1731238/Comcast-Intercepts-and-Redirects-Port-53-Traffic
EU elections - significant results for Telecoms Package
,----[ Quote ]
| Greens and IND/DEM get a boost, and PSE dwindles, but the position of the UK
| Conservatives could be crucial for the Telecoms Package and the future of the
| open Internet
`----
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=356&Itemid=1
Comcast Internet throttling is up and running
,----[ Quote ]
| COMCAST, the second-largest US cable television and Internet communications
| service provider, has a new broadband traffic throttling scheme installed and
| operating in all of its markets.
|
| The ISP's new regime for restricting its customers' bandwidth utilisation
| replaces its former stealthy practice of arbitrarily blocking subscribers'
| peer-to-peer (P2P) upload traffic, which was criticised by the FCC last year
| after it was exposed by the Associated Press and others.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/238/1050238/comcast-internet-throttling-is-up-and-running
Using Linux to Overcome Comcast's Policy of FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| It's been two months now since Comcast announced its suffocating 250GB/month
| bandwidth quota (not cap). Needless to say, I've been infuriated with them
| since day one... I understand the methodology behind this kind of decision in
| regards to network administration... but why do they have to be such Nazis
| about it!!?!?
|
| [...]
|
| So in the end, Linux has solved all of my problems yet again. I will never
| have to worry about approaching 250GB in the dark. Untangle has been a huge
| help for me, and it just might help you if you're a heavy bandwidth user like
| I am.
`----
http://mshipman.blogspot.com/2008/12/using-linux-to-overcome-comcasts-policy.html
Comcast, Verizon Agree To Cease-Fire On Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| Comcast and Verizon Communications have inked a deal under which the two
| companies have agreed to not sue each other over patent claims for a period
| of five years, according to company sources and published reports.
`----
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6602319.html
Comcast, NetZero latest providers to bow to Cuomo's Usenet campaign
,----[ Quote ]
| But in reality, Cuomo's pressure tactics have misfired. They led Time Warner
| Cable to pull the plug on some 100,000 Usenet discussion groups, including
| such hotbeds of illicit content as talk.politics and
| misc.activism.progressive. Verizon Communications deleted such unlawful
| discussion groups as us.military, ny.politics, alt.society.labor-unions, and
| alt.politics.democrats. AT&T and Time Warner Cable have taken similar steps.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10002624-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Comcast files FCC impotence suit
,----[ Quote ]
| But the meatpuppetting cable outfit says it will comply with the order while
| its appeal plays out in federal court. Under the order (PDF), Comcast has
| until September 19 to completely disclose its discriminatory network
| management practices and show how it intends to stop these practices by
| year's end.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/04/comcast_sues_over_fcc_ruling/
Comcast to cap monthly consumer broadband
,----[ Quote ]
| A far greater problem may be the slighting of cloud storage services that
| offer file transfer and backup. Services like Carbonite and Mozy let you back
| up and transfer the entirety of your computer's storage several times per
| month, which on many standard consumer machines can be in the hundreds of
| gigabytes.
|
| Apple, too, is just at the beginning stages of MobileMe, a service that
| offers sync and file backup to multiple devices. Additionally, the rumored
| all-you-can-eat iTunes could drastically change how much downloading users
| are doing on a monthly basis.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10028506-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Comcast Gives Cold-Shoulder To Non-Profit School Running Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| I think it would be rather fun to make the displeasure of Comcastâs Linux
| customers loudly known. If you would like to spend a few minutes letting
| Comcast know that is wrong to discriminate against customers due to their
| choice of operating system, the phone number to the Lake City, Fl. office is
| (386) 752-6161.
`----
http://crashsystems.net/2008/08/comcast-wont-support-linux/
FCC pelts Comcast with rotten veg
,----[ Quote
| Having put the company in the stocks two weeks ago, the FCC heaped a load of
| rotten vegetables over US cable giant Comcast yesterday.
|
| [...]
|
| The decision set a historic precedent for regulating packet networks, and not
| surprisingly much of the document (pdf) is devoted to a justification of why
| the FCC has the authority to intervene.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/21/fcc_comcast_order/
FCC on Comcast: Bravo!
,----[ Quote ]
| Free Press (and others) alleged that Comcast was blocking the BitTorrent
| application. We've known for sometime the result in this case (because of the
| weird practice of the FCC to release the results of an order without
| necessarily releasing the order). But at the crack of dawn (California time)
| today, the Commission released its 34 page order.
|
| It is fantastically well done. So much so that I felt compelled (in that
| weird lawyer like way) to blather my own 5 pages of thanks in a letter to the
| Commission that will be mailed today.
`----
http://lessig.org/blog/2008/08/fcc_on_comcast_bravo.html
Bipartisan FCC Majority Condemns Comcast's Illegal Blocking
,----[ Quote ]
| WASHINGTON -- Today, the Federal Communications Commission published an
| enforcement order punishing Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, for
| blocking Internet users' access to legal online content and services. The
| order, approved by a bipartisan majority on Aug. 1, requires Comcast to stop
| its ongoing practice of blocking Internet content by the end of the year and
| disclose all "network management" practices.
`----
http://www.freepress.net/node/43516
Related:
Comcast, Microsoft team up to serve smaller firms
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's move to offer the online software suite appears designed to
| compete with a similar offering from rival Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote,
| Profile, Research) known as Google Apps.
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN1361814420071114?rpc=44
Microsoft Buys Into Brazil With $126M Globo Stake.
,----[ Quote ]
| It deepened its U.S. cable
| presence in May when it agreed to invest $5 billion in AT&T Corp., following
| a $1 billion investment in Comcast Corp. in 1997.
`---- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4895/is_199908/ai_n17988823
Comcast faces FCC slap over P2P throttling
,----[ Quote ]
| Nevertheless, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told the Associated Press that
| Comcast's actions had "violated" a set of principles adopted by the
| regulatory commission to protect consumers' access. Indeed, three of five FCC
| commissioners recently voted in favour of an item that stated the internet
| provider had violated federal policy by throttling peer-to-peer traffic over
| its network.
|
| The FCC is slated to issue a final ruling at a commission meeting scheduled
| for August 1.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/28/comcast-slapped-p2p-throttling
FCC's Martin: Comcast blocking was widespread
,----[ Quote ]
| Comcast's slowing of peer-to-peer traffic appeared to be more widespread than
| the company has disclosed, the chairman of the US Federal Communications
| Commission said this week.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=1740976740&rid=-50
Comcast Isnât Net Neutral; Are They Liars, Too?
,----[ Quote ]
| Following reports that Comcast isnât net neutral, Consumerist blog has
| acquired several leaks from Comcast insiders, claiming that they do indeed
| use Sandvine for packet shaping, and that customer service representatives
| are being told nothing about how the network technology works,
`----
http://mashable.com/2007/10/26/comcast-isnt-net-neutral-are-they-liars-too/
Comcast admits paying attendees at FCC hearing
,----[ Quote ]
| Comcast Corp. admitted yesterday that it paid people to attend a government
| hearing. Company critics say the freelance attendees were there to crowd them
| out; Comcast says they were merely saving seats for employees.
`----
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080228_Comcast_admits_paying_attendees_at_FCC_hearing.html
Comcast stacked Net Neutrality meeting
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/02/27/comcast-stacked-net-neutrality
Allegations fly in FCC hearing aftermath
,----[ Quote ]
| Comcast Corp. on Tuesday acknowledged hiring people to fill seats before the
| start of a contentious federal hearing on how the company manages its
| broadband network, allowing its employees to take those seats when the
| filled-to-capacity hearing started.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080227/ap_on_hi_te/internet_regulation
Is Comcast's BitTorrent filtering violating the law?
,----[ Quote ]
| Assuming that the SYN packet goes through, the three-way handshake is allowed
| to happen, then the two hosts will be able to begin communicating. Your ISP
| can still kill the connection later, should they wish to, merely by blocking
| the transmission of future packets.
|
| According to Torrent Freak, Comcast is not doing this. They are instead
| sending a reset (or RST) packet to the Comcast customer, pretending to be
| from the host at the end of the BitTorrent connection.
`----
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9769645-46.html
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