Big UK ISPs Clarify the Confusion over Network Level Internet Filters - ISPreview UK: "In essence what Claire Perry has proposed and what ISPs are adopting appears to be Active Choice Plus but the devil is in the detail and it’s important to understand the subtleties involved before drawing any conclusions.
Firstly we already know (since May 2013) that all of the major ISPs either have or will soon launch network level filtering by the end of 2013 (here). A “network level” solution means that the ISP controls the filtering at its end of the service and this allows the restrictions to be imposed across all your connected devices.
But will it be enabled by default? Well not quite. According to the ISPs, all customers (both new and existing) will at some point be presented with an OPTION to enable or disable the related Parental Controls" 'via Blog this'
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Freedom of expression, the Council of Europe and net neutrality
It has been a momentous month in Europe for net neutrality.
I (little me!) gave the keynote speech at the Council of Europe multi-stakeholder dialogue “Network Neutrality and Human Right ” on 29-30 May in Strasbourg. This dialogue came as a result of the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on network neutrality (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 29 September 2010 at the 1094th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies). The CoE is now working towards a soft law instrument to guide member states in the application of net neutrality rules that support particularly the aspirations of Articles 6/8/10 of the Convention. A short outcomes paper of the major points of discussion will be communicated to the 47 member state representatives of the CoE Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) to consider and propose further action.
The European Commissioner subsequently on 4 June announced to the European Parliament her intention to introduce specific legislation on network neutrality, to be passed into law before the Parliamentary elections in May 2014. That process will be informed by the work of the CoE, and in fact I spoke directly after the Commissioner at the European Parliament event.
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to the UN OHCHR Frank LaRue has issued a new report referencing net neutrality in his ongoing work on rights online, issued in response to revelations of secret state surveillance amongst the NATO partners.
Fundamental rights are being taken seriously in the net neutrality debate at last? But the terrible events in Istanbul, the European part of Turkey, over the last fortnight - rightly condemned in the strongest terms by the European Parliament and ludicrously blamed on social media by the increasingly dictatorial Erdogan, as well as the revelations of the surveillance-industrial complex approaching its full maturity, suggest that we may be tinkering at the edges...
I (little me!) gave the keynote speech at the Council of Europe multi-stakeholder dialogue “Network Neutrality and Human Right ” on 29-30 May in Strasbourg. This dialogue came as a result of the Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on network neutrality (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 29 September 2010 at the 1094th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies). The CoE is now working towards a soft law instrument to guide member states in the application of net neutrality rules that support particularly the aspirations of Articles 6/8/10 of the Convention. A short outcomes paper of the major points of discussion will be communicated to the 47 member state representatives of the CoE Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) to consider and propose further action.
The European Commissioner subsequently on 4 June announced to the European Parliament her intention to introduce specific legislation on network neutrality, to be passed into law before the Parliamentary elections in May 2014. That process will be informed by the work of the CoE, and in fact I spoke directly after the Commissioner at the European Parliament event.
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to the UN OHCHR Frank LaRue has issued a new report referencing net neutrality in his ongoing work on rights online, issued in response to revelations of secret state surveillance amongst the NATO partners.
Fundamental rights are being taken seriously in the net neutrality debate at last? But the terrible events in Istanbul, the European part of Turkey, over the last fortnight - rightly condemned in the strongest terms by the European Parliament and ludicrously blamed on social media by the increasingly dictatorial Erdogan, as well as the revelations of the surveillance-industrial complex approaching its full maturity, suggest that we may be tinkering at the edges...
Saturday, June 15, 2013
No Country for Slow Broadband? WhEU are you calling slow?
No Country for Slow Broadband - NYTimes.com: "But that began to change as the economy turned around. Private investment and advances in technology, brought about by a competition policy that encouraged cable and phone companies to improve their networks, have propelled America’s networks forward. Over the last three years America’s broadband systems have doubled in speed, while Europe’s have remained stagnant. And that will continue, because broadband companies here are installing advanced fiber-optic technology faster than Europe..."
But what Richard said about Europe isn't true and he knows it - it's mired in recession and ADSL2 while the US is over 4 years into its slow recovery - but European broadband speeds are not stagnant. They have trebled in the last 5 years - even in the slowcoach UK its 234% in 4 years. Richard's better than this, I'm not sure why he chose to exaggerate because the bare story is a good one. The cash-rich US monopolists are pouring money into fibre upgrades - partly to rip out their loss-making copper to avoid what they see as extortionate universal service fees.
'via Blog this'
But what Richard said about Europe isn't true and he knows it - it's mired in recession and ADSL2 while the US is over 4 years into its slow recovery - but European broadband speeds are not stagnant. They have trebled in the last 5 years - even in the slowcoach UK its 234% in 4 years. Richard's better than this, I'm not sure why he chose to exaggerate because the bare story is a good one. The cash-rich US monopolists are pouring money into fibre upgrades - partly to rip out their loss-making copper to avoid what they see as extortionate universal service fees.
'via Blog this'
Monday, June 10, 2013
From ‘End-to-end’ to the ‘Rule of Law’: Should Network Neutrality be Enshrined into Legislation?
From ‘End-to-end’ to the ‘Rule of Law’: Should Network Neutrality be Enshrined into Legislation?: "the main challenge will be to find a suitable approach to encourage ISPs to do good in the future. Indeed, it should be kept in mind that the network neutrality debate is a thorny and multifaceted one and hold promise to hide many slippery slopes on its path. In order to tackle network neutrality in a proper fashion, legislators and policymakers need to have a clear understanding of this pivotal issue. What is at stake is their citizens’ freedom." 'via Blog this'
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Ericsson downgrades global mobile forecasts but tries to hide it...
Ericsson downgrades global mobile forecasts : Barry Flynn Communications: Bad science! "The major absence from this report, however, is any recognition of the fact that a large proportion of the traffic received and transmitted by mobile devices, which include laptops and tablets as well as phones, is off-loaded via Wi-Fi to fixed broadband and doesn’t travel over mobile networks at all.
This phenomenon is mentioned only once in the report, in a footnote to a table showing application mobile data traffic volumes by device type, to make clear that it “includes 4G, 3G and 2G mobile data traffic” but “does not take into account Wi-Fi offload traffic.”
This is strange, since Ericsson’s analysts would have had to factor Wi-Fi off-loading into their mobile traffic forecasts in order to work out how much they data they believed would go over one type of network rather than another (indeed, an increase in Wi-Fi offloading caused by stronger smartphone uptake may be one of the reasons for the traffic downgrade). And yet there is not even a methodological note about this." 'via Blog this'
This phenomenon is mentioned only once in the report, in a footnote to a table showing application mobile data traffic volumes by device type, to make clear that it “includes 4G, 3G and 2G mobile data traffic” but “does not take into account Wi-Fi offload traffic.”
This is strange, since Ericsson’s analysts would have had to factor Wi-Fi off-loading into their mobile traffic forecasts in order to work out how much they data they believed would go over one type of network rather than another (indeed, an increase in Wi-Fi offloading caused by stronger smartphone uptake may be one of the reasons for the traffic downgrade). And yet there is not even a methodological note about this." 'via Blog this'
How Corporations Hijacked the First Amendment to Evade Regulation
How Corporations Hijacked the First Amendment to Evade Regulation | New Republic: by Tim Wu: "Few industries these days can resist First Amendment defenses of even the most outrageous conduct. In 2007, Verizon was caught secretly monitoring customers on behalf of the federal government. The company asserted that what Congress calls illegal surveillance was actually a form of protected speech—and that Verizon has a prerogative to hand over customer records, especially in times of “armed conflict with foreign enemies.” More recently, Verizon saw a threat to its First Amendment protections in the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) net-neutrality rules. According to Verizon, if it wants to speed up some websites, and slow down others, it has a constitutional right to do so." 'via Blog this'
Friday, June 07, 2013
Free: An improvement on Youtube?
Free: An improvement on Youtube?: [Google Translate] "Hopefully this improvement is permanent and finally allows Free subscribers to use the service in a satisfactory manner (without slowing down), which is not the case for a majority of subscribers according to the survey of the UFC-Que Choisir published last December....
Before jumping to conclusions, and to determine whether this improvement is general, you can tell us in the comments, and responding to our survey, if you too have noticed a better access to YouTube day and evening." 'via Blog this'
Before jumping to conclusions, and to determine whether this improvement is general, you can tell us in the comments, and responding to our survey, if you too have noticed a better access to YouTube day and evening." 'via Blog this'
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Right
Listening to the truly shocking Luigi Gambardella at the European Parliament on Tuesday, and the Commissioner's evidence-avoiding claims of 'Big Data Explosions' (see my embedded comments) - that are not true - puts me in sympathy with Krugman's literary-inspired cri-de-ceour: NYTimes.com:
"Overall, it’s hard to think of any previous episode in in the history of economic thought in which we had as thorough a showdown between opposing views, and as thorough a collapse, practical and intellectual, of one side of the argument. And yet nothing changes. Not only don’t the policies change; by and large even the people don’t change... the lack of accountability, for ideas and people, is truly remarkable in a time of massive policy failure." 'via Blog this'
"Overall, it’s hard to think of any previous episode in in the history of economic thought in which we had as thorough a showdown between opposing views, and as thorough a collapse, practical and intellectual, of one side of the argument. And yet nothing changes. Not only don’t the policies change; by and large even the people don’t change... the lack of accountability, for ideas and people, is truly remarkable in a time of massive policy failure." 'via Blog this'
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
EU Telecoms Council, Luxembourg, 6 June 2013
EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press Release - Digital Agenda: EU Telecoms Council, Luxembourg, 6 June 2013: "Vice-President Kroes will ask for views from Ministers on her proposals to create a genuine single market for telecoms. She will focus on the need for a balanced package that addresses the goal of lifting investment in networks and delivering more choices and protection for consumers regarding internet and other telecoms services." Presumably including net neutrality, judging by yesterday's discussion. And stating definitively that there is NO DATA EXPLOSION! 'via Blog this'
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Here’s what Europe’s net neutrality law would look like — GigaOm
Here’s what Europe’s net neutrality law would look like — Tech News and Analysis: "It’s far from clear that the European Commission’s new proposals would stop such behavior. Similarly, there is nothing in there to stop a different kind of net neutrality abuse: ISPs charging content providers for carrying their traffic. In fact, the acceptance of the idea of a two-speed internet – for this is what Kroes is in effect describing – makes this sort of development more likely.
If there’s a fast lane in place, carriers can go to content providers and ask: “Would you like to be part of that lane, or relegated to best efforts?” The result? Entrenched and deep-pocketed providers would be able to pay, while their newer, smaller rivals would not." 'via Blog this'
If there’s a fast lane in place, carriers can go to content providers and ask: “Would you like to be part of that lane, or relegated to best efforts?” The result? Entrenched and deep-pocketed providers would be able to pay, while their newer, smaller rivals would not." 'via Blog this'
Blogging the European Parliament event on net neutrality
Chris Marsden
tuxbabe
Chris Marsden
Chris Marsden
Chris Marsden
Chris Marsden
Access
Chris Marsden
Jan Flodin
Media Policy Project
Access
Chris Marsden
Jérémie Zimmermann
Marietje Schaake
Chris Marsden
Chris Marsden
Chris Marsden
Chris Marsden
Aliki Foinikopoulou
Chris Marsden
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