Charter Communications' planned buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable aren't in the public interest, based on the information Charter provided, the California Public Utilities Commission Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) said in reply testimony. Groups representing minorities don’t believe approving the deals would be in the public interest because they would create one company with too much power over broadband opportunities. The CPUC received reply testimony Friday from interveners in the state-level proceeding. The next step is a public hearing Tuesday at 6 p.m. PST, presided over by an administrative law judge. No action is planned until all public comments are heard.
Charter Communications' planned buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable aren't in the public interest, based on the information Charter provided, the California Public Utilities Commission Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA) said in reply testimony. Groups representing minorities don’t believe approving the deals would be in the public interest because they would create one company with too much power over broadband opportunities. The CPUC received reply testimony Friday from interveners in the state-level proceeding. The next step is a public hearing Tuesday at 6 p.m. PST, presided over by an administrative law judge. No action is planned until all public comments are heard.
Schools and nonprofits in California have been forced to find creative ways to make sure youths and minorities get a fair shake on digital inclusion, some officials said Tuesday during the second half of NTIA’s California Broadband Workshop (see 1511170062). Part of ensuring that those who aren't connected can get online is meeting people where they are, doing hyperlocal neighborhood outreach, advocating for consumers and partnering with as many different organizations as possible, panelists said.
Schools and nonprofits in California have been forced to find creative ways to make sure youths and minorities get a fair shake on digital inclusion, some officials said Tuesday during the second half of NTIA’s California Broadband Workshop (see 1511170062). Part of ensuring that those who aren't connected can get online is meeting people where they are, doing hyperlocal neighborhood outreach, advocating for consumers and partnering with as many different organizations as possible, panelists said.
Time Warner Cable's four-year-old outdoor Wi-Fi network has grown to Dallas, San Antonio and Raleigh, North Carolina, the cable company said Thursday. The network -- part of TWC's network of 100,000 indoor and outdoor hot spots nationwide -- started in Los Angeles in 2011, and since expanded to New York City; Austin; Kansas City; Charlotte; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; San Diego and Palm Springs, California; and the state of Hawaii. It's available for free to Time Warner Cable residential Internet customers or on a pay-as-you-go basis to others.
Residents in some U.S. cities are pushing for policies to protect privacy and end surveillance practices. One push occurred in Oakland, which is working on a city privacy policy after a project designed to halt crime was blocked on privacy grounds. A surveillance hub project known as the Domain Awareness Center would have integrated public and private cameras and sensors across the city to prevent crime. The DAC was funded almost exclusively by grants from the Department of Homeland Security, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said. DHS and the Oakland Police Department didn't comment.
Smartphones will become the majority type of cellphone globally by 2018, driving continued growth in smart device technology that's predicted to account for 97 percent of global mobile data usage by 2019, Cisco said Tuesday in its annual mobile data forecast. Smart devices like smartphones and tablets currently account for 88 percent of mobile data usage, Cisco said. The number of smartphones is expected to be 4.6 billion by 2019, at which point there will be 3.1 billion feature phones, the company said. Cisco forecasts that mobile data usage will grow to 292 exabytes -- 292 billion gigabytes -- annually by 2019, up from the 30 exabytes of data transmitted during 2014.
Smartphones will become the majority type of cellphone globally by 2018, driving continued growth in smart device technology that's predicted to account for 97 percent of global mobile data usage by 2019, Cisco said Tuesday in its annual mobile data forecast. Smart devices like smartphones and tablets currently account for 88 percent of mobile data usage, Cisco said. The number of smartphones is expected to be 4.6 billion by 2019, at which point there will be 3.1 billion feature phones, the company said. Cisco forecasts that mobile data usage will grow to 292 exabytes -- 292 billion gigabytes -- annually by 2019, up from the 30 exabytes of data transmitted during 2014.
Smartphones will become the majority type of cellphone globally by 2018, driving continued growth in smart device technology that's predicted to account for 97 percent of global mobile data usage by 2019, Cisco said Tuesday in its annual mobile data forecast. Smart devices like smartphones and tablets currently account for 88 percent of mobile data usage, Cisco said. The number of smartphones is expected to be 4.6 billion by 2019, at which point there will be 3.1 billion feature phones, the company said. Cisco forecasts that mobile data usage will grow to 292 exabytes -- 292 billion gigabytes -- annually by 2019, up from the 30 exabytes of data transmitted during 2014.
Wireless associations and consumer advocates requested exemptions to allow for the circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) beyond mobile devices under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in filings for the Copyright Office’s triennial rulemaking process Monday. The debate over DMCA Section 1201 has pitted some tech industry officials, who argue that TPMs help thwart piracy, against those who believe that Section 1201 inhibits consumer innovation (see 1409180021). The former group includes the Association for Competitive Technology and Entertainment Software Association; the latter, Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The filings, which weren't available on the Copyright Office's website, were advanced to us.