Geist - CRTC: "They Trust us to Defend their Interests as Citizens, as Creators & as Consumers"

Michael Geist - The CRTC in 2017: "They Trust us to Defend their Interests as Citizens, as Creators & as Consumers": "Blais provided a vision that hits on many issues that should form part of Canada's long missing digital economy strategy. CRTC activity includes:

1. the creation of a Chief Consumer Officer to ensure the CRTC "examine all the issues before us through a consumer-focused lens."
2. the creation of wireless code of conduct
3. ensuring Canadians have maximum choice of providers and platforms
4. transparency in costing data of wholesale services
5. accessibility for all Canadians
6. broadband availability of downloads of 5 Mbps and uploads for 1 Mbps for all Canadians by 2015
7. enforcing do-not-call and anti-spam legislation
8. a broad definition of creators to include anyone that creates, distributes or promotes content" 'via Blog this'

Gangnam Style hits one billion views on YouTube: neutrality gangnam-style?

BBC News - Gangnam Style hits one billion views on YouTube: "Sir Martin Sorrell - chief executive of advertising giant WPP - paid tribute to the achievement by making a link between Psy and one of the west's most influential economists. "Another great example of Theodore Levitt's 'globalisation' and the power of K-pop," he told the BBC."
Anyone who thinks they can use these pipes for free must be nuts? A billion of them?
I particularly use this example because [a] K-pop has gone truly viral; [b] Korea leads the world in broadband and has done for a decade; [c] Professor Shin and I spoke at a Bangkok seminar on 20 Dec, in which he described his work for the Korean government on user empowerment and holistic regulation. I think he would forgive me this once for suggesting it's net neutrality regulation gangnam-style...'via Blog this'

Report: data caps just a “cash cow” for Internet providers

Report: data caps just a “cash cow” for Internet providers | Ars Technica: "a new paper from the New America Foundation... wants to shake up the lethargy that has descended over the data caps debate by pointing out just how odd the caps truly are. "Internet service and mobile providers appear to be one of the few industries that seek to discourage their customers from consuming more of their product," write the paper's authors. "The reason for this counterintuitive business model is that in the noncompetitive US marketplace, it is highly profitable."
The arguments presented here aren't novel, but they do act as a fine summation of the anti-cap position" 'via Blog this'

Slovenia's Economic Communications Bill adopts net neutrality

My colleague in the EINS Internet Science project, Ziga Turk, is temporarily regulating the electronic media as part of his ministerial portfolio. I heard today via European Parliament researchers that the Slovene Parliament passed at Second Reading its E-Comms Act, making it the second country - after the Netherlands - to formally legislate for net neutrality. 25 to go?
UPDATE: [1] I forgot Finland's USO obligation made them the first net neutral (of a kind) EU member, so it's 3 down, 24 to go. [2] This news was confirmed by a tweet by Dušan Caf @dusancaf Chairman of Slovenian Electronic Communications Council - which is just as well as most (all?) journos were caught in Christmas spirit and didn't cover it.

Here's the PR introducing first reading as English media has not caught up with the 2nd Reading.
Govt Adopts Economic Communications Bill | Invest Slovenia: "The bill includes net neutrality, which means that $operators will have to send internet traffic with uniform speed and permeability regardless of the content" according to Turk. The Agency for Post and Electronic Communications (APEK), which will be renamed the Agency for Communication Networks and Services (AKOMOS), will get more powers and expand its activities to the construction of shared infrastructure." 'via Blog this'

Pirate Bay proxy gets shut down after music industry legal threat

BBC News - Pirate Bay proxy gets shut down after music industry legal threat: "At the beginning of December, the BPI wrote to Pirate Party UK leader Loz Kaye to request the proxy be shut down.
Mr Kaye refused, prompting the music industry body to instruct its solicitors to contact the party's executive members individually to warn of possible legal action.
"We asked Pirate Party UK to remove the proxy because The Pirate Bay is an illegal site that is undermining the growth of legal digital music services," said BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor in a statement on Wednesday. "We believe its executives should respect the law, and the basic right of creative people to be paid for their work." Classy. 'via Blog this'

EU Member States amongst dozens not signing proposed new ITR Treaty

Press Release - No change to telecoms and internet governance - EU Member States amongst dozens not signing proposed new International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR) Treaty, remain 100% committed to open internet: "In the opinion of EU participants, the final text risked threatening the future of the open internet and internet freedoms, as well as having the potential to undermine future economic growth. The EU was concerned about this possible harm not only within the EU, but globally, including in developing countries. Fewer than half of the ITU Member States, accounting for a small proportion of global telecoms traffic, signed the proposed revised treaty today. The European Commission and EU Member States will now study the impact of this action. What is clear is that existing commercial arrangements are untouched. Innovative market-led commercial arrangements remain possible and the open internet will remain in place."
A double minority - less than 100 signatories, and most of those telecoms minnows? Less numerous than that enormous PR headline... 'via Blog this'

Stuck in broadband traffic? Consumer Focus on need to implement EC law

Stuck in broadband traffic? – Consumer Focus:  "In our report Lost on the broadband super highway, released today, we investigated consumer understanding of information on traffic management and we conclude that increased transparency alone is unlikely to safeguard effectively the open internet and prevent discriminatory restrictions online. Our research finds consumers are not aware of traffic management practices, and even if they find information on traffic management restrictions on providers’ websites they cannot digest the meaning of unfamiliar terms such as P2P or VoIP. This conclusion is reinforced by the findings of a Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) investigation and Ofcom’s Infrastructure Report that shows that many broadband providers place restrictions on access to online applications and services despite the regulatory framework that fosters transparency.

The findings of our research demonstrate the need to extend the existing regulatory framework by additional non-blocking and non-discriminatory principles that would clarify which type of traffic management is legitimate. If a self-regulatory or co-regulatory solution is a preferred option it must have a robust compliance and enforcement mechanisms monitored by Ofcom. In addition broadband providers need to do more to raise awareness of traffic management through improved marketing of information to customers. This is the only way to ensure consumers can use the broadband connection of their choice to access the internet and any legal online content and applications they wish, free of negative discrimination, and to protect the innovation." 

Any chance that the EC or Ofcom are listening to this? 'via Blog this

Internet humbles UN telecoms agency

Internet humbles UN telecoms agency | .Nxt | Internet policy and governance: "Having turned industries and governments upside down, the Internet has claimed its first organizational scalp, subjecting the United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to a humiliating failure at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai earlier today.
No sooner had applause run out after a vote on what to include in the preamble to an updated global telecoms treaty than the United States took the floor and announced it would not sign it." 'via Blog this'

European Parliament demands a net neutrality law

The European Parliament demands a net neutrality law | EDRI: "Following its resolution on net neutrality from November 2011, this is the second time that the European Parliament has asked the Commission abandon its laissez-faire approach on this crucial policy area." 'via Blog this'

BEREC publishes FIVE reports on net neutrality

Documentation: Though dated 2 weeks ago (BoR 130 was re-released as final last week, initially as draft - anyone know why?), and approved at 6 December plenary before release yesterday, these documents are so voluminous (and end of term is so laborious) I haven't read them through yet. IP interconnection will be most interesting, judging by the workshops that led to it.
BoR (12) 130: An assessment of IP interconnection in the context of Net Neutrality 

BoR (12) 144: Request for Information on Best Practice Examples Relating to Transparency / Net Neutrality Detailed responses to BEREC       

BoR (12) 134: Overview of the national situations concerning transparency

BoR (12) 139: Report on the BEREC public consultations on net neutrality         

BoR (12) 132: BEREC Report on differentiation practices and related competition issues in the scope of net neutrality.
\UPDATE 3/1/13: Note that two are for 'internal consumption' by BEREC members and not for public use. 'via Blog this'

WCIT-12: ITU and the realpolitik of telecoms

WCIT-12: ITU and the realpolitik of telecoms: IPTegrity: "Y.2770 deep packet inspection ( DPI)  standard that was agreed by the ITU standards committee prior to the WCIT-12 congress is indeed deeply troubling (see The ITU’s DPI standard – that’s something to be afraid of!). The ITU seems to retain an old-world mentality from the days when voice telephony was the primary service, and it seems to have not really adapted to an Internet world. This becomes obvious from looking at the ITRs revisions." 'via Blog this'

Court Suspends Briefing Schedule in Net Neutrality Challenge

Court Suspends Briefing Schedule in Net Neutrality Challenge: Multichannel.com: "Verizon and MetroPCS had asked for more time and space from the court to make their case against the FCC's network neutrality rules given that the deadline is Thursday, and added that if the court can't decide by then, it should suspend the Dec.6 deadline until it does rule on the request. The court suspended the schedule pending action on the underlying request.
The companies' request was prompted by the decision of that same court Monday in Verizon's challenge to the FCC's data roaming rules Cellco Partnership [Verizon] v. FCC.
In a motion filed with the court Wednesday, Verizon and MetroPCS asked for two more weeks from the current Dec. 6 deadline to file the latest briefs in their network neutrality challenge so they can incorporate this week's roaming decision into their filings, and for 1,000 additional words (the limit is 6,000) for their joint brief and 350 additional words for MetroPCS' separate filing (the limit is 2,000 words)." 'via Blog this'