Ars Technica
Chairman Pai: Wireless Carriers Apparently Violated Federal Law
On Jan 31, 2020, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wrote the following to various Members of Congress:
Chairman Pai promised faster broadband expansion—Comcast cut spending instead
Comcast reduced capital spending on its cable division in 2019, devoting less money to network extensions and improvements despite a series of government favors that were supposed to accelerate broadband expansions.
Verizon brings 5G to the Super Bowl—for part of the stadium, anyway (Ars Technica)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Mon, 01/27/2020 - 13:49Google researchers find serious privacy risks in Safari’s anti-tracking protections (Ars Technica)
Submitted by benton on Thu, 01/23/2020 - 12:06Smart homes will turn dumb overnight as Charter kills security service (Ars Technica)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Fri, 01/17/2020 - 16:30Exploit that gives remote access affects ~200 million cable modems (Ars Technica)
Submitted by Robbie McBeath on Mon, 01/13/2020 - 17:25US finally prohibits ISPs from charging for routers they don’t provide
A new US law prohibits broadband and TV providers from charging "rental" fees for equipment that customers have provided themselves. A government spending bill approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in Dec includes new requirements for television and broadband providers. A new "consumer right to accurate equipment charges" prohibits the companies from charging customers for "covered equipment provided by the consumer." Covered equipment is defined as "equipment (such as a router) employed on the premises of a person...
USTelecom fights against higher upload speeds in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
US Telecom -- a lobbying group with members including AT&T, Verizon, and Frontier -- is fighting against higher Internet speeds in a US subsidy program for rural areas without good broadband access. The Federal Communications Commission's plan for the next version of its rural-broadband fund sets 25Mbps download and 3Mbps upload as the "baseline" tier. Internet service providers seem to be onboard with that baseline level for the planned Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.