Net neutrality debaters need to separate fantasy from fact, Internet interests agreed Wed. during a Pike & Fischer summit panel. Amazon.com Vp-Global Public Policy Paul Misener was odd man out, championing net neutrality language as needed in Telecom Act revisions Congress is weighing.
The Minn. PUC opened a review of Qwest’s wholesale rates, as it promised to do last Dec. when it approved a new price capping plan for Qwest’s retail services. The PUC said it’s authorized to review Qwest’s UNE rates by Telecom Act Sec. 271. It rejected Qwest’s contention that federal law and regulations have preempted PUC review of intrastate wholesale rates under Sec. 271. But the PUC (Case P-421/CI- 05-1996) said the FCC has never stated explicitly that it has exclusive jurisdiction over all UNE rates, intrastate as well as interstate, and said state jurisdiction over UNEs under Sec. 271 hasn’t yet been resolved by the FCC. Qwest also argued the investigation is unnecessary because wholesale competition has worked to ensure its rates remain just and reasonable. But the PUC said CLECs and the state Commerce Dept. have raised substantive questions about the fairness and reasonableness of Qwest’s rates, which the PUC has lawful authority to investigate.
Net neutrality debaters need to separate fantasy from fact, Internet interests agreed Tues. during a Pike & Fischer summit panel. Amazon.com Vp-Global Public Policy Paul Misener was odd man out, championing net neutrality language as needed in Telecom Act revisions Congress is weighing.
Google is negotiating preferred access with cable operators, said Mediacom Pres. Rocco Commisso, even as he criticized content providers seeking network neutrality rules. Commisso and Cable One Pres. Tom Might told an American Cable Assn. panel that broadcasters and programmers aren’t playing ball with smaller cable operators on retransmission consent and a la carte. Net neutrality remarks from Commisso, known in the cable industry as one of its most outspoken executives, were the most controversial remarks at the conference.
With the 2006 election 6 months away, polarized political camps may exploit new Federal Election Commission (FEC) rules to file complaints against one other for online activities, a blog activist said Thurs. at the Computer, Freedom & Privacy Conference. A ban on using the FEC to file politically-based nuisance complaints was a goal RedState.com founder Mike Krempasky and DailyKos.com founder Markos Moulitsas pursued unsuccessfully in a 2005 blog assault on expanding the FEC’s hands-off Internet rules. At the conference, a campaign consultant said he had heard of only one such online campaign fight at the Commission, years before the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) was enacted. However, a campaign finance lawyer warned that abuse of the federal complaint process may be less common than enforcement of state laws for online activists.
Qualcomm Wed. hiked its Q3 earnings forecast based on more demand for low-end cell chips and high-end wireless technology. The manufacturer upped its revenue estimate to 38-40 cents per share, up 2 cents from earlier projections. Most of the company’s growth is coming from China and India, it said. Investment firm Lazard Capital Markets ranked the company a “BUY,” saying the raised earnings projections are a “hard act to follow.” It noted concern about 6 competitors in Europe and the U.S. suing Qualcomm for unfair business practices.
A 13-year-old Russian orphan pleaded with lawmakers Wed. to enact legislation to crack down on those seeking online to exploit children for sex. Masha Allen was molested and raped for more than 5 years, and her nude photos were circulated on the Internet by her adoptive father. She urged a House Commerce panel on oversight and investigations to take action.
The publicity surrounding lawsuits against parodists is distracting from fair-use legal issues that educational institutions such as libraries face, an academician told the Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conference Wed. Georgetown U. Law School Prof. Rebecca Tushnet said libraries in particular are treated the same as the original Napster under copyright law. An intellectual property advocate at the event defended the need to clearly delineate fair-use exceptions to let markets develop for other uses.
The House Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee on Wed. replayed concerns raised a week earlier at a Senate hearing on digital radio content (CD April 27 p8). The debate centered again on XM’s new portable gadgets, which can record and store digital copies of songs from XM’s live satellite radio stream. Billed as a broad look at digital rights management, the discussion narrowed to whether XM’s new toys overstep copyright boundaries.
The House Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee on Wed. replayed concerns raised a week earlier at a Senate hearing on digital radio content (CD April 27 p8). The debate centered again on XM’s new portable gadgets, which can record and store digital copies of songs from XM’s live satellite radio stream. Billed as a broad look at digital rights management, the discussion narrowed to whether XM’s new toys overstep copyright boundaries.