Some network-neutrality rule backers hope to see recent headlines on network operators’ traffic-management methods move the FCC to act favorably on a series of petitions and complaints. Web video distributor Vuze.com asked the FCC Thursday to open a rulemaking that sets “parameters of reasonable network management” and bars network management strategies that “block, degrade or unreasonably discriminate against lawful Internet applications, content or technologies.” Vuze’s petition closely follows complaints by public interest and consumer groups over Comcast handling of some peer-to-peer file transfers (CD Nov 2 p9).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted its new Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) minimum-security criteria for air carriers, which are effective as of November 14, 2007.
A new Harvard database shows a rising flood of lawsuits against those who push the boundaries of free expression on the Internet. The Online Legal Threats Database was created by the Citizen Media Law Project, an offshoot of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. It tries to count any “adverse action that a person or organization is threatened with because of their activities involving online speech.” The online database holds details of copyright infringement lawsuits filed against bloggers, cease and desist letters claiming defamation sent to MySpace users and other actions from 35 states and 9 countries.
It would be harder to find cool stuff online under a ruling limiting the scope of section 230 immunity under the Communications Decency Act, several major Internet companies, newspaper chains and trade associations told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a friend of the court brief. The full court agreed to rehear the appeal after a divided panel said Roommate.com was an “information content provider” under the CDA for requiring users to fill out Roommate.com-designed questionnaires - forfeiting its immunity regarding users’ stated roommate preferences that violated fair-housing laws (WID Oct 16 p7).
On November 6, 2007, the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety presented to President Bush its "Action Plan for Import Safety: A roadmap for continual improvement." The Action Plan includes short and long-term recommendations based on risk-based approaches across the entire import life cycle and a verification model that allocates resources based on risk.
A federal appeals court ruled that nothing in federal or North Carolina law required an electric cooperative to charge Time Warner Cable a reasonable and nondiscriminatory pole attachment rate. Time Warner went to federal court after the Carteret-Craven Electric Membership Cooperative in 2004 raised its pole attachment rate from $6 to $20 per pole upon expiration of a 1997 contract. The utility co-op said it arrived at its figure using FCC pole-attachment rate formulas. Time Warner said the co-op had made a calculation error and the proper FCC formula rate was $11.96 a pole. The co-op ignored Time Warner and stuck with its $20 rate. Time Warner sued, saying the $20 rate was unreasonable and discriminatory because it far exceeded cost, was excessive under the FCC’s rate formula, and was well above the pole attachment rates of other electric utilities in North Carolina. But a district judge dismissed Time Warner’s suit, saying the co-op’s rate didn’t violate federal or state law. Time Warner turned to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., which upheld the dismissal. The 4th Circuit (Case 06-1974) said Congress explicitly excluded electric cooperatives from the federal Pole Attachment Act, and North Carolina state law doesn’t authorize regulation of electric co-op pole attachment agreements, so there’s no ground in federal or state law to judicially review what Carteret-Craven charges for pole attachments. The 4th Circuit said pole attachment leasing is distinct from delivering electricity to customers, so pole attachment regulation would require specific legislation. It said Congress and the North Carolina legislature had opportunities to regulate electric cooperatives’ pole attachment agreements but both chose not to.
Broadband mapping bills could face amendments from net neutrality advocates, hindering the legislation’s progress during this session of Congress, Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, told reporters Tuesday. Though the legislation has broad bipartisan support, Stevens said, any telecom bill could be subject to amendments from advocates concerned about recent actions by network operator they consider evidence of a need for federal net neutrality protections.
Broadband mapping bills could face amendments from net neutrality advocates, hindering the legislation’s progress during this session of Congress, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member, told reporters Tuesday. Though the legislation has broad bipartisan support, Stevens said, any telecom bill could be subject to amendments from advocates concerned about recent actions by network operator they consider evidence of a need for federal net neutrality protections.
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board has issued a notice extending the comment period of its September 2007 notice regarding uniform treatment in local access (including possible conflicts of interest) where a third-party agent of the grantee(s) may effectively control access to FTZ procedures.
The Senate Judiciary Committee should bar immunity for telecom companies, in the electronic surveillance bill set for markup Thursday, privacy groups said in a conference call Monday. “The best outcome would be to see the whole thing collapse,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. The committee faces a contentious markup Thursday on a bill (S-2248) that the Senate Intelligence Committee approved two weeks ago. It offers targeted immunity for any phone companies that helped in the president’s surveillance program.