ars techncia

Florida to Supreme Court: Let us regulate social networks as common carriers

The State of Florida asked the US Supreme Court to reinstate its social media regulation law that made it illegal for sites like Facebook and Twitter to ban politicians. Florida's petition said the Supreme Court should answer the questions of whether the First Amendment prohibits states "from requiring that social-media companies host third-party communications, and from regulating the time, place, and manner in which they do so," and whether the First Amendment prohibits states "from requiring social-media companies to notify and provide an explanation to their users when they censor the u

Department of Justice drops suit against California net neutrality rule, but broadband providers are still fighting it

The Biden administration has abandoned a Trump-era lawsuit that sought to block California's network neutrality law.

Why the US still won’t require SS7 fixes that could secure your phone

Decades later, Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) and other components of the nation’s digital backbone remain flawed, leaving calls and texts vulnerable to interception and disruption. Instead of facing the challenges of our hyper-connected age, the Federal Communications Commission is stumbling, according to documents obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and through extensive interviews with current and former agency employees.

Verizon has a new strategy to undermine online privacy and net neutrality

Verizon has asked the Federal Communications Commission to preempt any state laws that regulate network neutrality and broadband privacy. It is possible that state governments might impose their own rules to protect consumers in their states.

Sprint’s long VoIP patent war leads to $140M verdict against Time Warner Cable

Sprint has been filing patent lawsuits over VoIP for more than a decade now, and the company may have just scored its biggest payout yet. On March 3, a jury in Sprint's home district of Kansas City (MO) said that Time Warner Cable, now part of Charter Communications, must pay $139.8 million for infringing several patents related to VoIP technology. The jury found that TWC's infringement was willful, which means that the judge could increase the damage award up to three times its value. “We are disappointed with the outcome and are considering our options,” a Charter spokesperson said. A Sprint spokesperson said the company was pleased with the verdict, which represented its "full damage demand."