Tag: FCC

Although Google and Verizon's proposal for net neutrality legislation definitely suggested giving the FCC additional power over broadband communications, the FCC commissioner isn't exactly thrilled with it. The Google-Verizon plan had "many problems," said Commissioner Michael J. Copps, in a very short response (available as a PDF). Here's his whole statement: "Some will claim this ...

When Google and Verizon got together last week to talk about net neutrality, everyone -- including the New York Times -- freaked out and assumed that Google was trying to get Verizon to prioritize Google traffic across Verizon's broadband infrastructure. Today, the two companies held a joint press conference to say that the exact opposite is true: both companies are supporting a 7-point plan to ...

It's been a long time since we've heard anything about the Net Neutrality Debate. The last thing we heard was that the FCC wants the Internet to remain neutral (or the American portion of it at least), but for the FCC to have authority over ISPs, and major players like Google and Amazon, the Internet would have to become more formalized. As it stands, the Internet is just an 'information service', ...

Comcast just won its appeal of a 2008 FCC ruling, and BitTorrent users may end up the losers. Comcast was effectively blocking torrents using "network management" techniques, and the FCC ordered them to make their network management scheme public and stop singling out BitTorrent traffic. This week's Court of Appeals ruling reverses that FCC decision and gives Comcast free reign again, TorrentFreak ...

Looks like Apple's not the only one drawing the ire of the FCC when it comes to Google Voice. AT&T filed a complaint with the FCC, forcing Google to explain why it was blocking a bunch of rural phone numbers from its Voice system. Google's answer? Because it's really expensive! Telephone providers are common carriers, and they're required to provide access to some phone exchanges out in the ...

There's been a long-raging debate as to just whether the US Government will enforce net neutrality - 2006 saw the Internet Non-Discrimination Act proposed, in 2007 the Department of Justice announced it wouldn't be legislating net neutrality and the ISPs have openly admitted they will actively manage traffic. However, that may soon be at an end. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FCC is ...

After Apple decided not to allow Google's phone app, Google Voice, into its application store, the FCC opened an inquiry into Apple's reasons for rejecting Google Voice, and its notoriously inconsistent app store approval policies. Now, Apple has not only responded to the FCC's questions, but publicly released the response on its website. Here are some of the highlights: Apple claims it didn't ...

The FCC sent inquiry letters to Apple, AT&T and Google as part of an investigation into the rejection of Google Voice from Apple's App Store. The rejection was one of the now-typical "duplicates the functionality of one of Apple's apps" affairs, and the FCC is pressing for details on how Apple's seemingly inconsistent approval process actually works. Was Apple moving at the behest of AT&T ...

Welcome to Googleholic - your bi-weekly fix of everything Google! This edition covers: Google reworks Adsense, again... and again Blogger users can use Blogger url as OpenID Google still bidding for the 700 Mhz spectrum in FCC auction Google reworks Adsense, again... and again Much commotion ensued after Google Adsense decided that publishers who send referrals from outside of North ...

Last week, news broke that Comcast may be paying a steep FCC fine to the tune of $1.77 trillion dollars for throttling peer-to-peer traffic such as BitTorrent. Yesterday, Comcast confirmed that it has received official word that it is under the investigation of the FCC, but an FCC spokesman would not confirm the letter, saying that "Enforcement Bureau communications of this type were not to be ...

As Google and Verizon are locked in a tiff over the way 700 MHz radio spectrum is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, it looks less and less likely that we're going to see the forthcoming Google Phone at wireless retail stores when it finally hits the market. Google contends that the licensee of the radio spectrum should be forced to sell "unlocked" devices, therefore permitting ...

If you happened to be in the offices of Vonage, Packet8, SunRocket, or any other VoIP provider today, you most likely were witness to some high-fives and knuckle-taps by their top executives. The reason for that is that the FCC has ruled/declared/said that VoIP providers should be treated the same as your friendly neighborhood telecom which, according to one FCC honcho, means that VoIP-ers will ...

So you've got that fancy new smartphone, and you've got an unlimited data plan from your wireless provider. What's the first thing you want to do? Install Skype for Windows Mobile and start making cheap international phone calls over your data connection without paying exorbitant service fees for international calls. Okay, maybe that's not the first thing, but it's up there. Unfortunately, most ...