Vice

Broadband 'Zero Rating' Actually Costs Customers More, Study Finds

The concept of “zero rating”—or the process of an internet service provider exempting certain content from broadband usage caps—has been controversial for several years now.

Hundreds of Bounty Hunters Had Access to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint Customer Location Data for Years

Around 250 bounty hunters and related businesses had access to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint customer location data, according to documents obtained by Vice. The documents also show that telecommunication companies sold data intended to be used by 911 operators and first responders to data aggregators, who sold it to bounty hunters. The data was in some cases so accurate that a user could be tracked to specific spots inside a building.

Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) Wants to Build a 'Digital' Border Wall That Would Also Provide Rural Broadband

Rep Will Hurd (R-TX) — the only Republican to hold a district that falls along the southern border — is not in favor of a border wall. Instead, he’s partial to the idea of a “digital” wall: a border-wide system of technology such as cameras, sensors, and drones communicating through a fiber optic network to keep the border secure.

It's Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real

In the months leading up to the Federal Communications Commission assault on net neutrality, big telecom and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told anybody who’d listen that killing net neutrality would boost broadband industry investment, spark job creation, and drive broadband into underserved areas at an unprecedented

Data Broker That Sold Phone Locations Used by Bounty Hunters Lobbied FCC to Scrap User Consent

Earlier in Jan it was reported how T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint were selling cell phone users’ location data that ultimately ended up in the hands of bounty hunters and people unauthorized to handle it. That data trickled down from the telecommunications giants through a complex network of middlemen and data brokers. One of those third parties was Zumigo, a company that gets location data access directly from the telecom companies and then sells it for a profit.

The Future of American Broadband Is a Comcast Monopoly

The Federal Communications Commission released a new, 182-page Communications Marketplace Report it claims proves the US broadband industry is awash with vibrant competition. In reality, consumer groups, third-party data and the report itself paint a starkly different picture; one where consumers increasingly only have access to just one Internet service provider: Comcast.

Democratic Reps Who Haven't Supported Net Neutrality Yet Have All Taken Money from Telecoms

The Democratic Reps staying mum on network neutrality have all taken campaign contributions from major telecommunication companies, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Democratic Reps have until Dec 10 to get 218 signatures for the Congressional Review Act that would overturn Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's Restoring Internet Freedom order. This would require every Democratic Rep and a few Republican Reps.

Prisons Want Cell Phone Jammers to Stop Inmates from Communicating With the Outside World

In June the Department of Justice released a report that declared a solution to prevent criminal activity from happening within prisons: it successfully tested a jammer that would block mobile signals from smuggled cell phones inside a Maryland prison. Throughout the corrections world the news spread fast.

America’s Internet Freedom Rating Dropped Due to the Repeal of Net Neutrality

Freedom House, a US-based pro-democracy think tank, releases an annual report that analyzes the amount of internet freedom in countries around the world, and assigns a score to each country. While America still has a high level of internet freedom, the loss of net neutrality protections, privacy laws, and the merging of major telecom companies caused its rating to drop in 2018. “It is depressing but not unexpected,” said Josh Tabish, the Ford/MDF Technology Exchange Fellow at Fight for the Future.

FCC Falsely Claims Community Broadband an 'Ominous Threat to The First Amendment'

In a speech Oct 24, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly insinuated, without evidence, that community owned and operated broadband networks would naturally result in local governments aggressively limiting American free speech rights.