July 2008

AT&T To Create Tiered Internet Access For Subscribers

AT&T will bring out a new tiered mechanism for giving Internet access to subscribers at different network speeds. AT&T customers currently buy Internet access at various speeds that the company delivers through its dedicated phone lines. But AT&T Senior Federal Regulatory Vice President Robert Quinn said it is difficult to guarantee subscribers' requested speeds for the whole Internet because AT&T can't control the nondedicated, shared part of the network. The new service will change AT&T's current practice of guaranteeing subscribers Internet speeds "up to" their subscribed amount. "When AT&T provides broadband service by speed, it will do so in discrete, non-overlapping tiers," Quinn said in written testimony. "We will strive to provide service within the speed tier purchased by the customer and, if we find that we are not providing service within the ordered speed tier, AT&T will take action either to bring the customer's service within the ordered tier or give the customer an option to move to a different tier."

Possible shutdown of Navajo Internet pushed back

The Navajo Nation has temporarily averted having its Internet services shut down, a tribal official said. SES Americom, which provides bandwidth for the services, had threatened to halt service by noon Tuesday if the company was not paid for services rendered. However, the company informed Navajo officials Monday night that it had decided not to shut down services until August 1. "It is good news," said Deswood Tome, a spokesman for the Navajo Nation's Washington office. "It gives us some more room to work with USAC (the Universal Service Administration Company) to get their ruling on this and to get some time so that public safety services aren't shut down." An Internet shutdown would affect the tribe's public safety network, which police and other emergency responders must be able to access from remote places across the reservation. The problem is that Utah-based OnSat Network Communications, which buys the bandwidth from SES, has been unable to pay SES because the federal government has been withholding about $2.1 million in reimbursement funds. A majority of the tribe's 110 chapter houses lost Internet service in April after the decision by the USAC to withhold the funds over concerns about a tribal audit of OnSat.

DPI: The good, the bad, the stuff no one talks about

TelephonyOnline is running a three-part series on "deep packet inspection" (DPI). Few technologies get their own Congressional hearings, but deep packet inspection is proving to be no ordinary technology. And even if the July 17th House Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing on DPI included the occasional accidental reference to "deep pocket inspection" from elected officials, it was clear that DPI is squarely in the political crosshairs as a potentially dangerous tool for ISPs. The primary concern raised in Washington is user privacy, foreshadowing the possibility of unprecedented federal rules over how this technology can be used by ISPs. At the same time, however, vendors are still piling into the DPI arena, promising more and better ways for service providers to manage traffic, use their network resources more efficiently, protect latency-sensitive voice and video signals, and even develop new services that promise new revenues.

Internet Groups Progressing On Code Of Conduct

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) Monday asked three prominent Internet companies for an update on a voluntary code of conduct being written by the industry, academics and human rights groups to regulate businesses' activities in countries that restrict Internet use and content. Colin Maclay, managing director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, which is helping stakeholders reach a consensus, said "it's beyond unrealistic to think that the deadline [of September] could move up" because the behind-the-scenes work represents significant commitments by a multitude of Internet players. Even if companies, including European partners that went unaddressed, did speed things up, non-corporate entities would not be able to (nor have any incentive to do so), he said.

So when do we get over with it and declare Google a monopoly?

[Commentary] Just how far ahead of everyone is Google? Consider the following, courtesy of Efficient Frontier Insights: Google now enjoys more than a 77 percent share of the search ad market. That's just the headline number. Take a closer look and you see what a marvelous franchise Google enjoys. For every new dollar spent on search in Q2 2008 versus Q2 2007, $1.10 went to Google. Yahoo lost $0.09, and Microsoft lost $0.01. In other words, advertisers are putting all of their new search dollars into Google, and pulling money out of Yahoo Search and Microsoft Live Search. Those kinds of numbers were seized upon by Microsoft's top lawyer, Brad Smith, during his recent testimony before Congress. Testifying on the proposed search advertising between Google and Yahoo, he said it was possibly "illegal under the antitrust laws." Monopoly anyone? Of course, there's nothing wrong with being a monopoly, per se. It all depends upon context and behavior. But considering Google's dominance and Microsoft's inability to significantly close the gap in the search business, I'm sure rivals would be thrilled if Uncle Sam finally declared Google a monopoly. That may be wishful thinking.

Embarq responds to lawmaker concerns about ad tracking

Embarq, an Internet service provider based in Kansas, has suspended its test of a targeted advertising service that tracks subscribers' Web habits as a way to deliver relevant ads. In a letter to Members of Congress, Embarq said it has no plans to deploy a controversial behavioral ad service from NebuAd. The test complied with Federal Trade Commission guidelines on the collection of personal data, Zesiger added. "It appears that industry standards in this area are evolving rapidly toward a more robust form of notice and choice," he said. "Embarq ... not only welcomes, but fully intends to apply any such evolved standards."

FCC Still Haggles Over XM-Sirius

Creating monopolies is tedious work. Three votes have now been cast in the Federal Communications Commission's review of the XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio merger, but the deal is still no closer to being done. FCC commissioner Michael Copps voted against the deal Monday night. It's the first vote against the deal. Two other commissioners - Chairman Kevin Martin and Robert McDowell - have voted in favor of the merger. The decision now increases pressure on another FCC commissioner - Deborah Taylor Tate - who is the only member of the five-person board who hasn't spoken publicly about how she feels about the deal or what she might want to approve it.

Trib buries news in redesign test

The new face of the Chicago Tribune is taking shape, as staffers at the newspaper put the finishing touches on a prototype set for a test run in the next few weeks. A version under consideration devotes the paper's front section to consumer-oriented and entertainment features. Local, national, international and business news is consolidated in the second section. Weather leads the third section, which also includes comics and classifieds, while the sports section is converted to a tabloid format. It's not clear how many of these changes will make it into the final version of the prototype, which a spokesman calls a "work in progress." But aspects of the prototype that prove popular with readers are likely to find their way into a full-scale redesign of all editions of the paper, which Tribune expects to debut by September. Tribune Co. Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels has ordered redesigns of all the Chicago-based media company's papers — along with cuts in editorial output and staff — in a bid to trim costs as circulations decline and advertising revenues plummet. Newly appointed Editor Gerould Kern has spent the past six years at Tribune focusing on cost-cutting. Among potential cost-saving moves: sharing more content among Tribune-owned papers and using more news wire copy, he says. Relying on the wires is a significant departure for the Tribune, which once called itself the "World's Greatest Newspaper" and has covered national and international news with its own staff throughout its history. Mr. Kern defends the strategy, saying it frees up reporters to do more local coverage.

Tribune slashes Allentown Morning Call news staff

The Allentown Morning Call became the latest Tribune Co. paper to fire a large swath of journalists as profits plummet amid the current economic malaise. About 24% of the Pennsylvania newsroom, or 35 to 40 positions, will be eliminated. The layoffs bring the total of planned newsroom cuts at Tribune papers to at least 400. Randy Michaels, Tribune's chief operating officer since May, visited the Morning Call in January and told a roomful of journalists to loud applause that "the first thing we want to do is stop cutting editorial." But profits soon began to fall faster than expected. Tribune papers are being squeezed as the housing slump erodes real estate and other advertising and the Internet becomes the medium of choice for classified ads. Added to those pressures is the $8 billion in new debt that the company shouldered in a leveraged buyout last December engineered by Sam Zell.

Kennard, Kneuer Agree Parents Need Better Content Control Tools

Former Federal Communications Commission chairman and current Barack Obama supporter William Kennard said Tuesday that he hoped the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to throw out the FCC fine against CBS stations' broadcast of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime show would spur a broader debate about the need to put content-control technologies in the hands of parents. He added that this was in contrast to the Bush administration's focus on ramping up enforcement against broadcasters. Former National Telecommunications and Information Administration head and current John McCain supporter John Kneuer replied that the FCC's indecency standards needed rethinking saying that the current FCC indecency-enforcement regime was inadequate because it did not deal with the reality of content available elsewhere, including the Internet, cable and satellite. But he clarified to reporters later that he was not suggesting expanding the enforcement regime to those other platforms. He said that by suggesting that the current regime was lacking, the "more" that he was looking for was more focus on technology tools.

Benton

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