The Verge

The 5 most ridiculous things the FCC says in its new net neutrality propaganda

A new “fact sheet” sent out by the Federal Communications Commission asks: what if facts are flexible things that we can bend to our preferred reality? It lists a series of “myths” about the commission’s proposal, followed by “facts” that supposedly debunk them — except the facts are often wrong, or directly confirm the myth that they’re trying to debunk. Here are some of the most flagrant examples.

Ajit Pai and the FCC want it to be legal for Comcast to block BitTorrent

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai released his proposal to kill net neutrality today, and while there’s a lot to be unhappy with, it’s hard not to be taken with the brazenness of his argument. CHairman Pai thinks it was a mistake for the FCC to try and stop Comcast from blocking BitTorrent in 2008, thinks all of the regulatory actions the FCC took after that to give itself the authority to prevent blocking were wrong, and wants to go back to the legal framework that allowed Comcast to block BitTorrent. 

AT&T Labs' new gigabit Wi-Fi project will piggyback on power lines

AT&T Labs announced a new wireless technology called Airgig, designed to transmit data at gigabit speeds over existing power infrastructure. The system would move the data between routers at the top of utility poles, transmitting data wirelessly over the millimeter waveband, also known as "gigabit wifi." AT&T expects the first field trials of the system to begin 2017.

The announcement comes after a number of major investments in millimeter wave systems. Google is actively exploring the technology as a last-mile replacement for Google Fiber, and Facebook is planning to deploy its own version of the technology in San Jose (CA) later in 2016. In January, Aereo founder Chet Kanojia revealed a system called Starry that would use the same technology to provide home Internet at gigabit speeds. Unlike Starry or Terragraph, AirGig is entirely linear, offering little to no redundancy if one of the links goes down. That’s a problem for millimeter waveband signals, which can be absorbed by rain or other atmospheric moisture. Airgig plans to mitigate that effect by transmitting close to the lines themselves, with wire-bound devices to regenerate the signal — but without field testing, it’s difficult to say how reliable the fix will be.