Net neutrality: A spambot made over a million anti-net neutrality comments to the FCC — Quartz

Net neutrality: A spambot made over a million anti-net neutrality comments to the FCC — Quartz: "It may seem like a struggle to get to 1.3 million unique comments in this way, but the math is pretty straightforward. The statement has around 20 chunks of text that get expressed with different synonyms. If each of those has three possible options, then there are 3 to the 20th power combinations, or about 3.5 billion. It would be “incredibly simple from a code perspective” to write a program to compose and submit all of these comments, Kao told me via email. He said he could probably do it “in an hour or so.”" 'via Blog this'

FCC chair says social networks threaten the free internet

FCC chair says social networks threaten the free internet: "In particular, he criticized a graphic of Portuguese mobile-broadband pricing that went viral in a tweet from Rep. Ro Khanna (D.-Calif.) showing surcharges for video, social, music and other categories of apps.

 The actual offer, as you can see at Portuguese telco MEO’s site, lets subscribers pay to exempt particular apps from their plan’s data cap.

That’s acceptable under current European Union regulations — and under U.S. rules too, as seen when wireless carriers exempted streaming-video services from their data caps under Wheeler’s term.

Yahoo Finance’s parent firm, Verizon (VZ), was among them." 'via Blog this'

Portugal's internet shows us a world without net neutrality, and it's ugly - LA Times

Portugal's internet shows us a world without net neutrality, and it's ugly - LA Times: "Khanna’s tweet displayed the mobile internet service offerings from the Portuguese telecommunications company MEO. After paying a fee for basic service, subscribers can add any of five further options for about $6 per month, allowing an additional 10GB data allotment for the apps within the options: a “messaging” tier, which covers such services as instant messaging, Apple FaceTime, and Skype; “social,” with liberal access to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and so on; “video” (youTube, Netflix, etc.); “email and cloud” (Gmail, Apple’s iCloud); or “music” (Spotify, Pandora). Portugal isn’t the only country allowing tiering of internet services. In Britain, the internet service provider Vodaphone (sic) charges about $33 a month for basic service but offers several “passes” allowing unlimited video or music streaming, social media usage, or chat, at additional tariffs of up to $9/mth" 'via Blog this'

Go Binge | User Guide | Three - extreme zero rating

Go Binge | User Guide | Three: "Who can get Go Binge and how can they get it?
Go Binge is available to all new and upgrading Three customers on the following tariffs:

All handset Advanced plans of 4GB and above.
All Sim Only Advanced plans of 4GB and above.
All Pay monthly Mobile Broadband plans of 5GB and above.

If you’ve taken out a new contract with us, or if you’re upgrading, you’ll automatically have the Go Binge Add-on as part of the sale.

Existing customers.

Existing customers can get Go Binge by changing plan to one with more data/minutes provided that the new plan is an eligible one (see above). Existing customers who are already on an eligible plan (see above) will still need to change plan to one with more data/minutes to get Go Binge. If you subsequently change your plan back to your original plan, you will no longer get Go Binge." 'via Blog this'

Tim Wu: Why the Courts Will Have to Save Net Neutrality - NYTimes

Tim Wu: Why the Courts Will Have to Save Net Neutrality - The New York Times: "Mr. Pai faces a more serious legal problem. Because he is killing net neutrality outright, not merely weakening it, he will have to explain to a court not just the shift from 2015 but also his reasoning for destroying the basic bans on blocking and throttling, which have been in effect since 2005 and have been relied on extensively by the entire internet ecosystem.

This will be a difficult task.

What has changed since 2004 that now makes the blocking or throttling of competitors not a problem? The evidence points strongly in the opposite direction: There is a long history of anticompetitive throttling and blocking — often concealed — that the F.C.C. has had to stop to preserve the health of the internet economy.

Examples include AT&T’s efforts to keep Skype off iPhones and the blocking of Google Wallet by Verizon. Services like Skype and Netflix would have met an early death without basic net neutrality protections.

Mr. Pai needs to explain why we no longer have to worry about this sort of threat — and “You can trust your cable company” will not suffice." 'via Blog this'

The net neutrality farce - NY Daily News

The net neutrality farce - NY Daily News: "But wait — there's more. AOL offered a curated service featuring proprietary content. This "walled garden" attracted the ire of network neutrality champions, who sought to block it by law. Yet AOL's experiment started small and grew huge, discovering progressively better ways to serve consumers.

Wheeler's chosen example of innovation demonstrates how dangerous it is to impose one particular platform, freezing business models in place.

Deep confusion reigns on this point.

In an explainer video posted earlier this year by the Wall Street Journal, net neutrality is analogized to package delivery. The overnight shipper, FedEx, delivers boxes to Amazon's customers, treating them all the same. This, says the video, is exactly what net neutrality rules applied to ISPs do.

Wrong. FedEx is unregulated. The firm chooses to offer terms and conditions that apply generically.

Its rival, UPS, not so much: "UPS is not a common carrier," says the company's website, "and reserves the right in its absolute discretion to refuse carriage to any shipment tendered to it for transportation."" 'via Blog this'

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will reveal plans to dismantle net neutrality 14 December

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will reveal plans to dismantle net neutrality: "The FCC is set to vote on the changes at a December 14 meeting, according to Politico." 'via Blog this'

Zero-rating and net neutrality - decisions...

Internet Law Sussex: Week 11 Zero-rating and net neutrality - decisions...: Zero-rating and net neutrality - decisions (so far) in the EU | Technology's Legal Edge : "Many European regulators are yet to cons...

Creating a new relationship in research, science and innovation with the EU

Creating a new relationship in research, science and innovation with the EU: "Dr Papatsiba and Dr Highman point out that the net €3.4 billion the UK receives from the EU research and development (R&D) budget is equal to more than a year’s worth of funds from the UK’s seven research councils. The EU’s announcement in July that it is considering doubling its R&D budget means that maintaining research collaboration with EU partners is more critical than ever.

 The government paper fails to specify the size of the financial contribution the UK will be in a position to make to future research programmes and how it will secure its participation. It also makes no mention of social sciences, humanities, arts and education, which are dependent on the EU for between a fifth and a quarter of their research funding.

 One of the most important areas requiring clarity is researcher mobility. Dr Papatsiba and Dr Highman argue that while the government paper emphasises researchers’ individual freedom, researcher-to-researcher links are influenced by broader policies and perceptions.

Reduced rights to stay in the UK for EU citizens will inevitably lead to less mobility, and therefore a drop in researcher numbers."



'via Blog this'