New York Daily News

[Commentary] The vote by the Federal Communications Commission repealing its 2015 network neutrality rules will have an especially negative impact on online innovation.

Upstart Democratic candidate for governor Zephyr Teachout, law professor at Fordham University, took some time away from the legal battle over her candidacy to formally submit arguments against the proposed merger of cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

In comments posted online, Teachout and running mate Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor, urged the New York State Public Service Commission to block the merger because it would increase costs for consumers, stymie competition and give the merged-companies a near stranglehold on broadband access in the state.

Teachout and Wu estimated the deal would cost New Yorkers over $1 billion a year in higher rates and added costs. They also argued Comcast could use its control over broadband access to make it harder and more expensive for consumers to view cable alternatives like Netflix.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigations has seized 80,000 potentially damning emails from Rupert Murdoch’s News, giving the media titan worries on both sides of the Atlantic in the ongoing phone hacking scandal.

While Murdoch was in London facing the fallout from the conviction of one of his former star editors, it was disclosed in the US that the FBI took and shared the mountain of emails with British prosecutors. The emails, all copied from servers at News Corp’s Midtown headquarters, include messages Rebekah Brooks, Murdoch’s former protégé, sent up the chain of command during the height of the phone-hacking scandal, The Daily Beast reported.

The emails have been shared with British prosecutors, but they were not used as evidence in the trial of Brooks and former News of the World editor Andy Coulson.

According to a recent study by San Francisco-based Common Sense Media, 38% of babies under 2 use tablets or smartphones, up from 10% in 2011.

As the technology’s popularity with the diaper-wearing set outpaces what is known about the neurological and cognitive impact on their brains, child development experts say less -- or no -- exposure may be best in the first 24 months.

“The bottom line is that it’s so new we don’t know if it’s good, bad or otherwise, but there is a lot of other research that shows the main learning and sustenance for young children -- particularly under 2 -- comes from their relationships, particularly with their parents and whomever takes care of them,” said Tovah Klein, director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development.

It is a hot-button topic among parents and pediatricians and the makers of electronic devices. The American Academy of Pediatricians has not issued guidelines on how much iPad time, if any, is beneficial. “As pediatricians -- and most of us are parents, too -- we know that you can’t spend 24 hours a day with your child, but we would encourage moderation for electronic devices,” said Dr. Ari Brown, a spokeswoman for the pediatricians group, which also recommends no TV viewing for kids under 2.

Verizon customers in East Harlem (NYC) who have been without telephone service since early February say Verizon is trying to force them to dump their outdated traditional copper-cable landlines for the new fiber-optic lines and fancy features.

“They said, ‘You must take FiOS in order to get your phone back,’” said Sylvia Velazquez, 74, whose landline has been down for 42 days. “That’s unfair. We shouldn’t be pressured into taking it.”

Velazquez, who lives in the DeWitt Clinton Houses on Park Ave near 110th St, is one of at least 150 Verizon customers who have been complaining about dead phone lines for more than a month. Verizon denies the charges being made by the angry customers. The utility says it has been working to restore their traditional land lines, but acknowledges it would like to move them to fiber optic service. The outages appear to be the result of flooding on Park Ave between E 101st and E 103rd Streets, where the copper cables were damaged, said Verizon spokesman John Bonomo. Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez (D-East Harlem) said his office received a handful of complaints and vowed to alert the state Public Service Commission.