Ars Technica
President Trump vetoes $740 Billion defense bill, citing “failure to terminate” Section 230
President Donald Trump has vetoed funding for the US military because the massive defense spending bill did not include a provision to repeal Section 230 which grants Internet service providers, including online platforms, broad immunity from being held legally liable for content third-party users share and grants those same services legal immunity from the decisions they make around content moderation. The National Defense Authorization Act would have authorized $740 billion in defense spending for the upcoming government fisc
Law banning “rental” fees for customer-owned routers takes effec
Broadband and TV providers will finally be required to stop charging "rental" fees for equipment that customers own themselves, thanks to a new US law that takes effect on Dec 20. The bogus fees were outlawed by the Television Viewer Protection Act (TVPA), which was approved by Congress and signed by President Trump in December 2019.
Warner Bros. will release entire 2021 film slate in theaters and on HBO Max (Ars Technica)
Submitted by benton on Thu, 12/03/2020 - 16:49Comcast raising TV and Internet prices, including a big hike to hidden fees (Ars Technica)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Wed, 11/25/2020 - 12:50OneWeb exits bankruptcy and is ready to launch more broadband satellites
OneWeb has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy under new ownership and says it will begin launching more broadband satellites in December 2020. Similar to SpaceX Starlink, OneWeb is building a network of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites that can provide high-speed broadband with much lower latencies than traditional geostationary satellites. After a launch in December, launches will continue throughout 2021 and 2022, and OneWeb is now on track to begin commercial connectivity services to the UK and the Arctic region in late 2021 and will expand to delivering global services in 2022.
AT&T raises DirecTV prices again amid customer losses and possible sale (Ars Technica)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Thu, 11/19/2020 - 13:23Broadband power users explode, making data caps more profitable for ISPs
The number of broadband "power users"—people who use 1TB or more per month—has doubled over the past year, ensuring that broadband internet access service providers will be able to make more money from data caps. More customers exceeding their data caps will result in more overage charges paid to ISPs that impose monthly data caps. Higher usage can also boost ISP revenue because people using more data tend to subscribe to higher-speed packages.