The CEA, a stalwart supporter of the CableCARD, is fighting a request by vendor Evolution Broadband for a waiver from the CableCARD rule for certain stripped-down digital boxes (CED June 18 p9). And it again raised questions about whether a planned box from Beyond Broadband Technology (BBT) would comply with FCC separable security rules.
Wireless carriers seem to be girding for a court fight over a pending FCC order meant to pave the way for the advanced wireless services 3 auction and requiring the licensee to offer free national broadband. Meanwhile, we have learned, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated two variants on the AWS 3 order, the second stipulating 20 MHz for the band, the earlier providing 25 MHz. Each has its own interference protections.
A proposal to warn, cut off Internet access to and blacklist alleged online pirates cleared the French Cabinet Wednesday. The “graduated response” or “three strikes” strategy arose from the 2007 Olivennes accord among content owners, ISPs and the government (WID Nov 26 p2). It is being scrutinized by the European Commission, the U.K. and other countries. But a new bureaucracy to prevent and punish infringement may not be the most efficient way to deal protect copyright, some Internet lawyers said.
On June 17, 2008, Los Angeles City Council approved the Port of Los Angeles' Clean Truck Program (CTP), the plan designed to help cut port-related, diesel truck emissions by 80%. This vote adds further momentum to the Port's transition to a License Motor Carrier-based truck concession system beginning October 1, 2008. (LA port release dated 06/17/08, available at http://www.portoflosangeles.org/newsroom/2008_releases/news_061708ctp.asp)
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin at this point doesn’t appear to have three votes for his proposal to set aside 25 MHz or even 20 MHz of spectrum for a free national broadband network. FCC sources said Martin may be hard pressed to line up the needed votes before the agency’s planned July 29 meeting. The August meeting is expected to take place a few days later, on Aug. 1.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin at this point doesn’t appear to have three votes for his proposal to set aside 25 MHz or even 20 MHz of spectrum for a free national broadband network. FCC sources said Martin may be hard pressed to line up the needed votes before the agency’s July 29 meeting. The August meeting is expected to take place a few days later, on Aug. 1. Various parties have raised issues the FCC hasn’t explored in depth, said an agency source. “There are novel issues that have not been commented on before… The mantra is, ‘What’s the big rush?'” Wireless carriers, handset makers, MSS operators and public interest groups have opposed the Martin free broadband plan. T-Mobile told the FCC in a recent filing it has sponsored tests of interference AWS-3 devices would cause for AWS-1 licensees. T-Mobile has spent $7 billion to build out its network using the spectrum it bought during 2006’s AWS-1 auction, the company said. “But T-Mobile’s ability to provide the high-quality broadband service that customers demand requires appropriate protections against harmful interference from the adjacent AWS-3 band.” M2Z, expected to pursue the band, is pressing the FCC to act before Aug. 14, reminding commissioners that they committed to take action within nine months of the notice rejecting the company’s earlier petition seeking the spectrum. “The potential for harmful interference between AWS-3 and AWS-1 is rare under a proper probabilistic analysis, easily avoided and limited (if it does occur),” M2Z said in a recent FCC filing.
In its ninth Trade Policy Review1 of the U.S., the World Trade Organization states that in light of economic uncertainty prevalent in early 2008, U.S. welfare would best be promoted by exploiting the adjustment capacity of the U.S. economy and continuing to reduce barriers to market access and other distorting measures, including those that result from high levels of assistance in agriculture and energy.
Antitrust and consumer protection laws have places in the net neutrality debate, FTC Commissioner Thomas Rosch said in a keynote at Friday’s Broadband Summit. The shift in concern over the possibility of “quid pro quo” deals for preferred content delivery to network management raises consumer protection issues, but none so complex that current law can’t address them, Rosch said.
Antitrust and consumer protection laws have places in the net neutrality debate, FTC Commissioner Thomas Rosch said in a keynote at Friday’s Broadband Policy Summit. The shift in concern over the possibility of “quid pro quo” deals for preferred content delivery to network management raises consumer protection issues, but none so complex that current law can’t address them, Rosch said.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin pulled his free broadband, advanced wireless services 3 proposal from consideration at the June 12 FCC meeting, an agency spokesman said Friday. The move follows major lobbying by handset makers, wireless carriers and public interest groups irate at aspects of the order Martin circulated two weeks ago. He plans to call for a vote on the order at the July meeting, aiming to hold the AWS 3 auction as early as December, the spokesman said. Several sources said last week that while not all FCC commissioners have weighed in publicly Martin appears to have at least three votes for the plan as long as their various concerns are addressed.