Megaupload, the file-sharing Web site shut down by federal law enforcement on Thursday, has some big celebrity names behind it. Its chief executive, Kaseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean, is married to R&B and Hip Hop star Alicia Keys. He also counts powerful artists including P. Diddy and Will.i.am. as friends.
A United Nations telecom meeting has approved the next generation of mobile technology, which experts say will make devices 500 times faster than 3G smartphones and eliminate the wait time between the tap of a finger and the appearance of a Web page.
The technology will be used immediately for planning changes to equipment but it could take two years to show up on consumers smartphone, tablets and other devices because of the time it takes to get to production, International Telecommunication Union spokesman Sanjay Acharya said. The differences between present technology and the new standards for IMT-Advanced are like comparing dial-up Internet to fiber-optic cables, say officials at the UN agency responsible for information and communication technology. The IMT-Advanced system uses radio-frequency spectrum much more efficiently, and devices built with it will need less bandwidth to access the Internet, stream videos and transfer data. That means those devices could deliver blazing fast messages, video chats and even high-definition TV. The new standards for what some call "true" 4G, or fourth generation of mobile wireless standards, were approved by the ITU Radiocommunication Assembly at its meeting this week in Geneva. ITU set the requirements for 4G service in 2009.
Billionaire Carl Icahn has purchased debt from Philip Falcone’s LightSquared’s bondholders as the satellite-broadband-service provider struggles to start service. Icahn, along with investors Andrew Beal and David Tepper purchased $300 million in LightSquared debt sold by Farallon Capital Management LLC. last month. The move may give Icahn control of LightSquared’s radio spectrum for less than Falcone originally paid.
Petitions to Deny Verizon Wireless’ acquisition of SpectrumCo and Cox spectrum licenses are due February 21, 2012. Oppositions are due March 2 and Replies are due March 12, 2012.
Preliminary review of the Verizon Wireless-SpectrumCo Application indicates that the proposed assignment of licenses to Verizon Wireless would result in Verizon Wireless acquiring either 20 or 30 megahertz of spectrum in 572 CMAs covering 259.7 million people (or approximately 84% of the U.S. population). Preliminary review of the Verizon Wireless-Cox Application indicates that the proposed assignment of licenses to Verizon Wireless would result in Verizon Wireless acquiring 20 megahertz of spectrum in 90 CMAs covering 30 million people (or approximately 10% of the U.S. population). [WT Docket No. 12-4]
In addition, Petitions to Deny Verizon Wireless’ exchange of Leap Wireless spectrum licenses are due February 21, 2012. Oppositions are due March 2 and Replies are due March 12, 2012.
Paul de Sa, Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis (OSP), will leave the Federal Communications Commission in February.
Paul de Sa has been Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis since joining Commission in July 2009. He leads a group that includes economists, lawyers, technologists, and visiting academics who work on a variety of issues before the Commission, including merger reviews, broadband adoption and deployment, and spectrum policy.
The impending Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act have the Internet in a tizzy, but Congress has a lot more to think about on the technology front than just intellectual property. Even digging below the surface of the SOPA debate, you see that the issues at play — such as defining Internet borders and squelching innovation on the web — have broad effects that span everything from the digital divide to international commerce.
Here are five questions Congress needs to answer in 2012:
Apple is again urging a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by iPhone and iPad users who allege their privacy was violated when their devices' unique identifiers -- 40-character strings of letters and numbers -- were transmitted to app developers and their affiliates.
U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh in San Francisco last year threw out an earlier version of the potential class-action on the ground that the users didn't show how they were harmed by the alleged transmissions. But the dismissal was without prejudice, which left the users free to beef up their allegations and try again. They did so two months ago, when they filed amended complaint alleging they were harmed because they wouldn't have paid as much as they did for iPads or iPhones had they known that the devices were capable of transmitting the information. The consumers also argued that the transmitting data like gender, age, Zip code, searches performed “and selections of movies, songs, restaurants or even versions of the Bible” consumed battery power, storage and bandwidth. But those assertions aren't enough to prove economic injury, Apple argues. “Plaintiffs’ conclusory assertion that they somehow paid a 'wrongful premium' for their iPhones ... goes nowhere,” the company says in its papers. “Plaintiffs do not point to a single, specific misrepresentation Apple allegedly made at the time of purchase that materially influenced their decision making.” Apple also argues that its privacy policy confers “a broad right to collect, use and transfer both device identifier and location-related information.”
[Commentary] Big media companies have been pushing SOPA and PIPA as a way to limit piracy, by removing consumers’ ability to find pirated content. But it’s not Google’s fault people are seeking out films online and watching pirated streams or downloads — it’s the studios’ fault for not making it easier for consumers to find and pay for that content instead.
Jan 18 saw the biggest day of online protest in the English world in history, with thousands of websites temporarily dark and many more displaying prominent banners of opposition to the anti-piracy bills now in Congress. Many of the most-visited sites participated -- Google and Wikipedia most prominently -- and more than 25,000 WordPress blogs did as well, with another 12,500 sporting a "Stop Censorship" ribbon. The New York Times called the organization a sign of the tech industry's "coming of age." Today, as the Internet flits back to its normal operations, and the dust of the protests settles, here's an accounting of the day's effect.
Millions of Americans responded to the historic SOPA and PIPA blackouts implemented by thousands of websites both large and small Jan 18, but Americans weren't the only ones moved to action.
The whole world was watching, and the whole world chimed in. Activist website Avaaz, which has a worldwide member base of more than 10 million, asked its members to sign a petition from "concerned global citizens" urging members of Congress to vote against both PIPA and the SOPA. Avaaz reports that 1.8 million from 141 countries around the world signed its petition. The petition did especially well in Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Canada and Mexico, but people in Jamaica, Morocco and Malaysia also lent their voices.
Here's a breakdown of some of the countries with the most signees.
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