Vice
A Dig Once Law Could Have Save the US $126 Billion in Broadband Deployment Costs
Telecom experts have long pushed for a “dig once” law that would mandate the installation of fiber conduit during roadway construction and upgrades. A new study by BroadbandNow states that passing “dig once” legislation could have saved the US $126 billion in broadband deployment costs. Dig once legislation has been routinely proposed since 1996 by a rotating crop of lawmakers, but the legislation rarely goes anywhere.
Senator Wyden to AT&T and T-Mobile: You Don’t Need to Store So Much Customer Data
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent a letter to major US telecommunications companies AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon urging them to lower the amount of sensitive data they store on customers. Those large pools of data present a significant hacking risk, Sen Wyden argued. "Your companies collectively hold deeply-sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans. It should come as no surprise that this data is a juicy target for foreign spies," he said.
Locally Run ISPs Offer the Fastest Broadband in America
A new PCMag 1study once again highlights how community-run internet service providers (ISPs) offer better, faster broadband than their private sector counterparts. All told, six of the ten fastest ISPs were either directly run by a local community, or involved some form of partnership between the public and private sectors.
Google’s Jigsaw Was Supposed to Save the Internet. Behind the Scenes, It Became a Toxic Mess
Google's "Jigsaw" is a moonshot division formed in 2010, now thought of as an "elite think tank." Founded as Google Ideas, its goals included using technology to fight radicals from San Salvador to the Middle East; investigating human trafficking, terrorism, and cybercrime; and developing software to conduct the first public opinion poll in Somalia. While trying to save the internet from censorship, extremists, and hackers may sound like one of the best jobs in tech, more than a dozen current and former employees of Jigsaw said that the reality inside is bleak. Current and former Jigsaw emp
Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony Say Trump’s Tariffs Will Make Gaming Consoles Cost More (Vice)
Submitted by benton on Wed, 06/26/2019 - 14:10
AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile Hit With FCC Complaint Over Sale of Phone Location Data
Public interest groups and telecommunications experts filed a complaint with the Federal Communication Commission centering on how AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon sold their customers' real-time location data to third parties without those customers' informed consent. The complaint reads: