07/23, 4:40pm
Notice on Open Internet Transparency Rule tells ISPs to give accurate service information
In a public notice to Internet service providers, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reminded business that they cannot lie to consumers about the services they offer. The notice informs business and the general public that "every provider of broadband Internet access in the United States" is subject to the Open Internet Transparency Rule.
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07/21, 9:58am
Free upload speed upgrades on Verizon FiOS over next few months
Verizon is updating its bandwidth tiers for FiOS, by giving customers higher uploading speeds. Starting from today onward for new and existing Verizon FiOS residential customers, the Internet provider will be upgrading lines at no extra charge, with subscribers being able to upload data at approximately the same speed as they are paying to download content.
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07/18, 10:44am
Verizon congestion fix claimed to be cheap, simple, completed in five minutes
The ongoing feud between Netflix and Verizon has stepped up, with a transit provider weighing in over Verizon's connection congestion claims. Level 3 claims the high utilization of the connection between Verizon and itself is Verizon's fault, as the Internet service provider is actively refusing to upgrade its connections at the point of the apparent congestion.
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07/11, 8:14am
Google legal chief outlines removal request difficulties following EU court ruling
Google is still being swamped with requests to remove website listings in Europe, following the Court of Justice of the European Union's ruling on the "right to be forgotten." Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond claims the search company has received more than 70,000 takedown requests since the ruling in May, with the requests covering 250,000 webpage listings in its search results.
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07/11, 5:03am
Claims majority of Verizon network is stable, Netflix connections as weak point
The battle between Verizon and Netflix over connectivity continues, with Verizon completely refusing to accept any of the blame for slow streams. The latest feud installment involves a Verizon blog post claiming its network operations team found no congestion on the Verizon network in a recent review, laying the blame squarely at Netflix's connection decisions instead of with itself.
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07/07, 8:24am
Blue warning notices appear under buffering YouTube videos, linking to a quality report
Google is taking a leaf out of Netflix's playbook, by hinting to YouTube users that their Internet service provider (ISP) is slow or poor. A new blue banner stating "Experiencing interruptions?" has started to appear underneath YouTube clips when users experience buffering or poor quality video, along with a link to the search company's YouTube Quality Report.
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07/01, 6:58pm
Coauthor says benefits of research may not have been worth the backlash
Adam Kramer, co-author of the paper involving Facebook news feed manipulation, took to the social media service to explain the importance of the study earlier this week. Since news of the psychological study hit the Internet, many have wondered about the ethical implications of emotional manipulation by the company. Kramer indicated that the researchers didn't clearly state their motivations in the paper, leading to a misinterpretation of how the study was perceived.
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06/26, 9:13am
European search results for names carry warnings of possible removed listings
Google has started to remove search results in Europe, in accordance with a recent ruling over the "Right to be Forgotten". After receiving requests from Internet users wanting links to be removed from search listings, Google is not only leaving out the URL, but also warning users their search results may have been adjusted to conform to the Court of Justice of the European Union's ruling.
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06/17, 12:08pm
Deal covers consumer speeds, not peering deals between companies
Some Democratic senators are looking at a ban on the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) proposal to allow Internet "fast lanes." Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Doris Matsui (D-CA) have proposed a bill that codifies the FCC's existing authority to ensure that Internet Service Providers don't allow some content providers faster access at the expense of other services.
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06/15, 4:55pm
Internet only viewing U.S. households expected to surpass antenna only next year
A study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) finds that the number of Internet-only viewers of television programming will soon number higher than antenna-only viewers. Television viewers in the United States have been embracing Internet viewing habits at a rapid pace, with a climbing number of households watching exclusively on wireless devices. While device saturation for Internet viewing has increased, the television still remains the most watched device in the US.
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06/12, 4:09pm
General counsel for Netflix sets congestion blame squarely with Verizon
The war of words between Netflix and Verizon over Internet service provider (ISP) performance issues is continuing, a new leaked letter reveals. A response from Netflix General Counsel David Hyman to his counterpart at Verizon firmly pins the connection blame on the ISP, after receiving a cease and desist letter over Netflix's congestion warning messages.
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06/11, 1:53pm
Secondary SSID will be enabled on 150,000 Comcast routers by end of June
Comcast subscribers in Houston will soon see a new secondary SSID broadcasting from their routers, as the company prepares to create more Wi-Fi hotspots. Approximately 50,000 Comcast routers in the area will begin to offer free "xfinitywifi" hotspot access to other Comcast subscribers, a move the company has previously tested and launched in other areas, despite the controversial nature of the program.
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06/11, 7:24am
Evernote recovers from multi-hour DDoS attack, Feedly continues to suffer
Two prominent web properties have come under fire from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in the last 24 hours. Note-taking app Evernote struggled to stay active during its multi-hour attack earlier today, with Google Reader replacement Feedly being the current target, with the entire service currently unavailable while it attempts to mitigate the malicious traffic surge.
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06/10, 7:05am
Bids requested by Amtrack to test Wi-Fi improvement feasibility
Amtrak is looking to increase the on-board Wi-Fi service on some of its trains running on the east coast of the United States. The company is soliciting bids for a "proof-of-concept" project for bolstering its Wi-Fi service, with the ultimate aim of providing a "high-capacity, broadband-speed Internet connection" for trains running between Washington and Boston.
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06/09, 4:54pm
Verizon drops places in latest Netflix speed rankings
Netflix will soon stop its customized error message warning of issues with specific Internet service providers (ISP), the video streaming company has advised. At the same time as releasing ISP speed results for May, Netflix states it will stop the customized notifications when its "small scale test" concludes on June 16th, before deciding whether or not it will extend the practice to other markets and ISPs.
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06/05, 5:14pm
Provider wants a list of users sent claim, in addition to halting further messages
After Verizon's statement regarding congestion accusations levied by Netflix, the provider has apparently taken a more serious approach to the issue. A report from Reuters indicates that Verizon has sent Netflix a cease-and-desist letter, asking that the company put an end the messages posted on users' screens. As part of the notice, Verizon has also asked for a list of customers on Verizon's network the notices were sent to.
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06/05, 5:30am
Claims warning is attempt to shift connectivity blame from Netflix to Verizon
Verizon has fought back against reports of a Netflix error message informing users "The Verizon network is crowded right now." The error message, which directly blames the Internet service provider (ISP) for the slow connection has been described by Verizon as a PR stunt and an attempt to shift blame away from itself, claiming the error message "is not only inaccurate, it is deliberately misleading."
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06/04, 11:20am
Warning message blaming Verizon for slow connection being tested by Netflix
Netflix is testing out messages warning users of Internet service providers with poor network connectivity, with the first target being Verizon. The video service has started to offer up an error page advising Verizon subscribers of high levels of congestion on the network, in what appears to be the latest in the net neturality-related spat between Internet services and telecommunications providers.
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06/03, 3:33pm
John Oliver rallies fans against Internet rules, FCC commenting undergoes load issues
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) experienced a heavy server load on Monday, possibly related to comments made by John Oliver during Sunday's episode of the HBO comedy Last Week Tonight. The comedian gave a report on net neutrality which called for commenters and Internet users to comment at the FCC's website. Oliver used what he considered to be less "boring" language to inspire people to speak up to the FCC about the open Internet.
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06/02, 8:13am
Network of 180 satellites will reportedly provide Internet to remote areas
Google is exploring the possibility of launching its own satellites into space, according to a report. The Wall Street Journal claims the search company is planning to invest more than $1 billion on a fleet of small satellites that could be used to spread Internet access into areas of the world that are not covered by more traditional forms of connectivity, such as cellular or wired connections.
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05/25, 1:48pm
Carriers appealed plan over moving telephone subsidies to internet, subsidy concerns
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) saw its 2011 proposal to expand broadband to rural areas upheld after a judge rejected arguments from carriers over the loss of telephone subsidy funds. The Connect America Fund, a $4.5 million initiative aimed at spreading faster Internet access to seven million people who live in rural areas, was under review by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver after numerous telecommunication companies challenged the plan.
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05/23, 6:53am
Market-wide deployment of Cox gigabit service expected by end of 2016
Cox Communications has detailed where it plans to roll out its residential gigabit Internet service. Following an earlier announcement stating it would be launching the high-speed service this year, Cox has revealed it will start construction projects in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Omaha, with both new and existing neighborhoods in the regions being prepared to receive the improved connections.
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05/22, 4:31pm
Google takes stance against Comcast, Verizon charging for 'last mile' access
Google will not charge Internet services to host their content at Google Fiber locations, it has revealed. A Google Fiber blog post states the Internet service provider will provide free colocation at its Fiber facilities for services like Netflix, rather than following the lead of Comcast and Verizon in charging for direct access to the last mile connection to the customer.
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05/20, 8:31am
Repairs, installation targets for phone connections in UK could reduce under Ofcom proposals
British regulator Ofcom is considering changes to standards relating to installation and repairs to phone lines in the United Kingdom, as part of a three-yearly review. Openreach, the wholesale arm of BT which performs installations and fault repair for multiple telecommunications companies, as well as managing the infrastructure of the phone system, will receive lower fault repair targets and will be forced to offer reduced charges to customers, if Ofcom's proposals are accepted.
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05/18, 2:52pm
Signers of three letters to FCC receive 1.2 to 5 times more lobbyist money from telecoms
Members of the United States House of Representatives responsible for sending letters to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over net neutrality concerns have received more than double the average campaign contributions from telecommunication companies over a two-year window. The contributions, tracked by Maplight, shows the funds that the politicians of both parties have received via political action committees and employees of organizations.
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05/14, 6:35pm
GOP leaders warn that FCC proposal could harm internet economy, innovation
Four Republicans in the United States House of Representatives including Speaker John Boehner sent a letter today to Federal Communications Committee (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler asking that he halt his plan on regulation of the Internet. Government leaders think the plan will be a detriment to the economy and innovation that currently thrives.
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05/13, 4:40pm
Providers urge Wheeler to stick to initial plan, avoid reclassification of broadband
Senators, Internet companies and citizens aren't the only groups issuing letters to the Federal Communications Commission over proposed changes to net neutrality. CEOs of major telecommunication companies have stepped in, issuing a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler and the FCC commissioners, asking that changes in policy stay away from the concept of possible reclassification of broadband as public utilities.
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05/13, 9:31am
If enacted, move would generate massive extra costs, infrastructure
The Court of Justice of the European Union has rejected Google in a dispute over information collection, ruling that Internet companies can be forced to remove personal content from search engine results, reinforcing the concept of a "right to be forgotten" in Spain (where the complaint was filed) and other European countries. Should the ruling be codified, Google and other similar companies can be mandated to remove "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant" content, and if they do not do so, would be guilty of violating the right of privacy as defined in the EU.
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05/12, 7:57pm
Free classes cover teaching basics of internet understanding, culture
Firefox developer Mozilla has unveiled a plan today that would offer online courses aimed to train Internet users and potential teachers on some of the fundamentals of the Internet. The courses, which will be free, will "help everyone from formal educators to enthusiastic engineers learn how to teach the basic mechanics, culture and citizenship of the web."
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05/12, 5:58pm
Changes address public, corporate concerns that rules would end net neutrality
The head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Chairman Tom Wheeler, is said to be according to the revising his proposal on broadband rules, according to the Wall Street Journal. The uncirculated first version has come under heavy fire recently by a wide variety of parties, from the public, tech companies and government officials to the other FCC commissioners, all of whom have registered objections. Changes to the proposal will include language that would allow for FCC oversight on deals, in order to keep providers from separating traffic into two lanes of speed based on paid agreements.
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05/11, 5:35pm
Wyden, Boxer, Franken among Senators concerned with net neutrality proposal
In a letter addressed to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Friday, 11 United States Senators voiced their concerns over the newly-proposed net neutrality rules by the FCC that may be heading to vote this week. The letter specifically points to the problems and inequality the proposal may promote, including "paid prioritization arrangements."
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05/09, 10:16am
Piracy warning letters deal close to completion, lacks penalty for infringing
Internet service providers (ISPs) in the United Kingdom are close to an agreement with parts of the entertainment industry, which will attempt to fight piracy in the country. The Voluntary Copyright Alert Program (Vcap), stemming from the Digital Economy Act of 2010, will see BT, Talk Talk, Virgin Media, and Sky sending warning letters to customers identified as possible infringers, though it appears that, unlike the Six Strikes system used by the Center for Copyright Infromation in the US, the scheme may not penalize infringers at all.
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05/08, 7:06am
Google, Facebook, Amazon among coalition asking for FCC to reconsider net rules
A coalition of technology companies have co-signed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its net neutrality proposals. Signed by over a hundred Internet companies, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and Amazon, the letter asks the FCC to reconsider what the companies claim "represents a grave threat to the Internet."
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05/07, 4:39pm
Governance group expects two-thirds to be from the developing world
Releasing new statistics today, the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) announced that by end of 2014, there will be nearly three billion Internet users -- two-thirds of them from the developing world. Notably, the ITU is expecting mobile broadband penetration approaching 32 percent worldwide.
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05/07, 10:10am
ISPs not named, but called 'dead last' in customer satisfaction in US
Colorado-based Internet service provider Level 3's Vice President of Content and Media, Mark Taylor, is accusing other ISPs that "happen to rank dead last in customer satisfaction across all industries in the US" of refusing to work with Level 3 to reduce Internet congestion. He claims that the actions of the companies are "deliberately harming the service they deliver to their paying customers."
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05/05, 6:25pm
Browser developer wants FCC to better understand the modern internet
The development team behind Firefox has submitted a petition to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), outlining a proposal on how net neutrality could be handled going forward. The 17-page document from Mozilla presents a plan to keep the Internet open, but centers on the proviso of the FCC declaring the relationship between internet service providers (ISPs) and edge providers as common carrier.
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05/03, 5:27pm
Meetings intended to try and hammer out differences between FCC, ISPs, Netflix
Netflix was reportedly in discussions with US Federal Communications Commission personnel this week, expressing deep concern to Chairman Tom Wheeler's poorly-received "net neutrality" proposal. Sources familiar with the matter allegedly met with the FCC to discuss the proposal several times over the course of the week, attempting to steer discourse on the matter to something closer to Netflix's idea of an open Internet, with equal treatment for everybody's traffic.
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05/01, 10:15pm
Large companies like Google and Netflix may bring back SOPA style protests
The battle between the FCC and consumers over net neutrality may not yet be over, as information provided to corporations later this week regarding the recent FCC proposal may spark future action to retain an open Internet. The Wall Street Journal reports that while some of the larger companies are awaiting briefing information from the FCC over the new proposal issued in late April, they may be readying action on the same scale as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) protests.
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05/01, 5:26am
First Cox gigabit Internet service locations to be revealed in coming weeks
Cox is planning to offer its customers a gigabit Internet service, competing against similar services being deployed by Google and AT&T. CEO Pat Esser revealed in an interview the company will be moving towards expanding the high-speed service from its current corporate customers into the residential market, with the first roll-outs set to occur before the end of this year.
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04/22, 11:09am
Up to 100 candidate cities planned to receive AT&T U-Verse with GigaPower service
AT&T has outlined a plan to roll out and expand its fiber service to 100 candidate cities and municipalities across the United States. The plans, which includes 21 new metropolitan areas, expands upon the company's existing U-Verse with GigaPower build-out taking place in Austin, Texas, which will see subscribers receiving TV services as well as a fiber connection promising speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second.
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04/16, 12:42pm
New York Google Fiber job not a sign of future expansion
A Google Fiber job listing located in New York was thought to be a possible sign the search company is looking to open the service in the market, though Google has denied the possibility. The listings for a Google Fiber Regional Sales Manager in the city is said by a company spokesperson to be a job role that has existed for some time, and not to "read into the job listing."
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04/11, 3:07pm
Internet ads exceeded TV dollars by $2.7 billion in 2013
US Internet advertising revenues for 2013 hit an all-time high of $42.8 billion, exceeding broadcast television advertising revenues of $40.1 billion. The full-year results mark the first time that Internet ad spending has eclipsed television commercial sales. Of particular note is mobile advertising -- for the third year in a row, mobile achieved triple-digit growth year-over-year, rising to $7.1 billion during 2013, a 110 percent boost from the prior year total of $3.4 billion.
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03/18, 2:46pm
Priority traffic allowed if no other traffic is affected by boost
A group of European Parliament members today voted to give permission to ISPs to prioritize certain kinds of traffic (as specified by the ISP themselves) as long as the prioritization has no impact on other traffic in any way. The decision today allows companies to "offer specialized services of higher quality, such as video on demand and business-critical data-intensive cloud applications, provided that this does not interfere with the Internet speeds promised to other customers" according to the committee.
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03/15, 2:20pm
NTIA starts process to end DNS management, American monitoring in 2015
The United States government has asked the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to begin drafting a proposal to transition the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) responsibility of domain name system (DNS) administration away from the United States. Stepping away from governance of ICANN would mark the final phase of DNS privatization that had been set in motion in 1998, allowing ICANN to operate independently.
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03/12, 11:06am
Remarks in various venues mark 25th anniversary of Internet invention
In a series of statements commemorating the 25th anniversary of the modern Internet, inventor Tim Berners-Lee asked a pointed question. In a post on Google's official blog, Berners-Lee wondered "are we going to continue on the road and just allow the governments to do more and more and more control -- more and more surveillance?" In response, the computer scientist wants to build a "Magna Carta," codifying the rights of Internet users, and limiting the ability of governments to interfere with the execution of a global network.
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03/10, 10:39am
Agreement claimed to involve Netflix renting server space in Telenor data center
Netflix may be making more agreements with Internet service providers (ISP) to prevent throttling, and is apparently doing so outside of the United States. A deal between Netflix and Telenor of Norway is reported to be similar to one between the streaming service and Comcast, with Netflix said to be placing its servers within the ISP's own data centers.
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02/23, 2:40pm
Content streaming company to have direct access to ISP network
In a report from the Wall Street Journal, Netflix has entered into an agreement with Comcast to end throttling of bandwidth by the provider. Netflix customers have been plagued by declining streams since an appeals court ruled the FCC's net neutrality rules were invalid. The move comes as a surprise as the FCC is currently working on new strategies to keep the companies from treating internet traffic in an unfair manner. Netflix has agreed to pay Comcast an undisclosed sum in order to have a direct link to the ISP.
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02/19, 3:57pm
Will not appeal ruling voiding key net neutrality rules
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will not appeal a court ruling that declared key parts of its net neutrality rules invalid. As part of its attempt to rectify the situation left by the Verizon court case, the FCC is working on rewriting the rules, so that they can "meet the court's test for preventing improper blocking of and discrimination among Internet traffic."
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02/18, 6:53am
Sony shifts 5.3M PlayStation 4 consoles, beats recent Xbox sales figures
Sony has sold over 5.3 million PlayStation 4 game consoles globally as of February 8th, the company has revealed. The news comes just days before the company launches the console in its native Japan on February 22nd. In comparison, Microsoft's January financial results toward the end of January showed it sold 3.9 million competing Xbox One consoles and 3.5 million of the Xbox 360.
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02/14, 6:44am
Increase in speed could be ten times that offered by Google Fiber
Broadband connections could get considerably faster in the future, if technology worked on by Google comes to fruition. The search company is apparently working on ways to offer connections as fast as 10 Gbps, ten times that of current Google Fiber connections, under current plans to develop what Google views as the next generation of the Internet.
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