FBI Hoaxes Boost Online Fraud: Via Threat Level.

Online fraud in the United States doubled to a reported $560 million in losses last year as illicit phishing expeditions by thieves posing as the Federal Bureau of Investigation represented the biggest consumer complaint, according to a Friday government survey.

The e-mail phishing scams represented 16.6 percent of all complaints. The next closest category, at 12 percent, concerned consumer unhappiness about being billed for products never ordered or received, according to FBI data unveiled Friday.

Overall, the number of reported dollar losses stemming from online fraud doubled in 2009 from the year prior. [ Read more ... ]

Thousands Sign Petition Protesting Net Neutrality Loopholes for Copyright Enforcement: Via EFF.org Updates.

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) submitted a petition signed by more than 7000 people to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today demanding that the agency close a loophole for copyright enforcement in its proposed regulations for network neutrality.

The petition is part of EFF's reply comments in the FCC's net neutrality rulemaking. The FCC's proposed rules generally prohibit ISPs from discriminating or blocking lawful content, but include a loophole for 'reasonable network management' by ISPs. The proposed rules then define 'reasonable network management" to include measures taken by ISPs to block unlawful content or transmissions. This exception would effectively permit ISPs to violate net neutrality rules and block lawful activities in the name of copyright enforcement.

"We can't afford to let lawful speech become collateral damage in Hollywood's war on copyright infringement," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Net neutrality regulations should not excuse ISPs that interfere with lawful content just because they claim they were acting as copyright cops." [ Read more ... ]

Netflix to FCC: scary loophole in net neutrality rules: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

Netflix, the company that mails out DVDs and streams movies to millions of home theater potatoes, made the rounds to the Federal Communications Commission on Friday. The company's general counsel told staffers and Commissioners that the movie rental distributor supports the agency's proposed Internet nondiscrimination rules. But they also include a potentially nasty loophole, Netflix warned—the "managed services" category that the Commission created in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking back in October.

Read Original Article:(Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.)

Privacy Recommendations for the National Broadband Plan: Via CDT - Center for Democracy & Technology.

Last week, CDT filed two sets of comments to the Federal Communications Commission regarding privacy concerns and expectations associated with broadband adoption and use. The FCC is in the process of drafting a national broadband plan and CDT has called upon the Commission to include in this plan a number of policy initiatives and reforms that could help spur the Internet’s continued growth. [ Read more ... ]

CDT Offers Recommendations For FCC “Open Internet” Rules: Via CDT - Center for Democracy & Technology.

1/25/2010

CDT Comments to the FCC on Net Neutrality

FCC's NPRM

Internet Openness & Standards

Internet Neutrality

1) CDT Offers Recommendations in FCC’s “Open Internet” Proceeding

2) Questioning the FCC’s Assertions of Jurisdiction over the Internet

3) Comments on the Proposed Rules

4) The Road Ahead and the Comcast Appeal

Read Original Article:(Via CDT - Center for Democracy & Technology.)

Comcast wants "clear rules," even if it means net neutrality: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

Comcast wants "clear rules" from the FCC when it comes to network management, and it wants them so badly that it's even willing to accept network neutrality as the price of getting them. What the huge ISP does not want is the kind of ambiguity that led to so much acrimony about its P2P blocking in 2008, and which is now being hashed out in a DC courtroom.

Read Original Article:(Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.)

John Morris will speak at a National Town Hall Webcast on Net Neutrality, Copyright Protection and the National Broadband Plan: Via CDT - Center for Democracy & Technology.

January 19, 2010 - 8:00am - 11:00am

John Morris

Internet Openness & Standards

Internet Neutrality

John Morris will speak at a National Town Hall Webcast on Net Neutrality, Copyright Protection and the National Broadband Plan.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has confirmed that he will offer video remarks to kick off the Town Hall Webcast, by BroadbandBreakfast.com. [ Read more ... ]

Skeptical judges ask FCC if Comcast P2P smackdown was legal: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

Comcast has had its day in court over the issue of "network management." News accounts suggest that the three-judge panel from the DC Court of Appeals was plenty skeptical that the FCC had the proper authority to sanction Comcast's BitTorrent blocking in 2008. [ Read more ... ]

Search Neutrality ≠ Net Neutrality: Via Freedom to Tinker.

Sunday’s New York Times featured a provocative op-ed arguing in addition to regulating “net neutrality” the FCC should also effectuate “search neutrality” - requiring search providers rank results without consideration of business entities. The author heaps particular scorn upon Google for promoting its own context-relevant services (i.e. maps and weather) at the fore of search results. Others have already reviewed the proposal, leveled implementation critiques, and criticized the author’s gripes with his own site. My aim here is to rebut the piece’s core argument: the analogy of search neutrality to net neutrality. Clearly both are debates about the promotion of innovation and competition through a level playing field. But beyond this commonality the parallel breaks down. [ Read more ... ]

Big wireless to FCC: be consistent—except when it benefits us: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

Lobbying is a fast and furious game, one where the lobbyists must make every attempt to present things that benefit their industry as if they are a triumph of dispassionate reason—even when their positions seem to contradict one another.

The wireless phone industry filed a document (PDF) Tuesday with the FCC that led us to ponder the mysteries of the lobbyists, [ Read more ... ]

SOC's slippery slope: good enough for movies, why not sports?: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

Back when we had our debate with cable's top lobbyist Kyle McSlarrow over whether to let Hollywood block analog streams to your home theater setup, I asked a worried question. If the Federal Communications Commission does give movie studios and cable companies the green light to implement Selectable Output Control (SOC) on "premium" early run movies, who else might petition for it next? [ Read more ... ]

Satellite TV to FCC: we're special, don't make us open up: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

If you've tried to pump your fully-paid-up cable connection into, say, a computer running Windows Media Center, you've probably come up against the closed nature of pay-TV and the severe limitations of CableCARD. And what about satellite TV? Don't even think about it.

The FCC wants to blow open the market for third-party video devices, scrapping some of the current (failed) CableCARD rules and adding satellite providers to the list. [ Read more ... ]

"So, Verizon, about those doubled early termination fees...": Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

The FCC has been asking plenty of "innocent questions" lately about the mobile space. It doesn't threaten any direct action against companies like AT&T and Apple, it just wants "a more complete understanding" of some situations. But those questions usually get results. [ Read more ... ]

MPAA to FCC: critics of video blocking proposals are lying: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

The movie studios have a new Holy Grail, it seems: Federal Communications Commission permission to cable companies to shut down the analog streams on video-on-demand movie programming. As Ars readers know, we've been covering this issue for a while. But the Motion Picture Association of America's latest letter to the FCC pulls out all the stops, rhetoric-wise, calling criticisms of this scheme "complete and utter nonsense that only can be intended to stir up baseless fears among consumers that their equipment will suddenly go dark and be unusable for any purpose." [ Read more ... ]

FCC proposes network neutrality rules (and big exemptions): Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

As expected, the FCC laid out its draft network neutrality rules at an open meeting today. Despite the partial dissent of the two Republican commissioners, the pro-neutrality faction has won a major rhetorical battle; even its toughest opponents sing the praises of a "free and open Internet."

The draft rules are short, taking up less than two pages of text. At their heart are the four existing "Internet freedoms" that the FCC approved back in 2005:

Read Original Article:(Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.)

Is Net Neutrality a FCC Trojan Horse?: Via EFF.org Updates.

On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski is expected to unveil draft rules aimed at imposing network neutrality obligations on Internet Service Providers (ISPs). In the excitement surrounding the announcement, however, many have overlooked the fact that the this rulemaking is built on a shoddy and dangerous foundation – the idea that the FCC has unlimited authority to regulate the Internet.

Genachowski has announced that the draft regulations will require ISPs to abide by the "Four Freedoms" set forth in the FCC's 2005 Internet Policy Statement, as well as the additional principles of nondiscrimination and transparency. EFF strongly believes in these six principles. Our work speaks for itself: we are developing software tools to Test Your ISP in the wake of uncovering Comcast’s meddling with BitTorrent traffic, seeking a DMCA exemption to let you run applications of your choice on your mobile phone, and fighting Hollywood’s efforts to force DRM restrictions into your television. [ Read more ... ]

Hollywood Pressuring FCC on Selectable Output Control Again: Via EFF.org Updates.

Our friends at Public Knowledge have been doing a great job in Washington, D.C., fighting against the MPAA's efforts to selectively disable the high-definition analog (i.e., "component" video) outputs on your cable box. In essence, Hollywood is telling the FCC that it won't give Americans early access to blockbuster movies unless the FCC lets it kill your analog outputs.

Public Knowledge has an update today, letting us know that Hollywood is back at the FCC pushing for this anti-consumer, anti-innovation change in the FCC rules: [ Read more ... ]

GOP senators: Net neutrality rule making must be bipartisan: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

Now out of power, the Republican party is preaching the virtues of bipartisanship. A new letter from 18 Republican senators to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski opens with a line of congratulations but moves quickly to the real business at hand: telling Genachowski that he had better not plan on moving forward with his ambitious net neutrality agenda unless he has bipartisan support. [ Read more ... ]

Is AT&T about to clamp down on heaviest iPhone data users?: Via Law & Disorder Section - Ars Technica.

Yesterday at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2009 conference, both FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega gave keynote addresses. While Genachowski stressed the importance of developing "sensible rules of the road" for wireless network neutrality, de la Vega strongly urged that wireless networks must be managed, repeatedly suggesting that net neutrality regulation would let a few heavy data users "crowd out the many" on its 3G data networks. [ Read more ... ]

Editorial: "Network neutrality" or "network neutering"?: Via Ars Technica.

Win the words, win the war? That's the thinking of some network neutrality opponents, who are on a campaign to rebrand the concept as "net neutering."

The campaign gained traction at the Wall Street Journal last week, where an editorial page writer took a courageous stand against FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's "net-neut initiative." The editorial, called "Neutering the 'Net," argues that the idea is "perhaps the most talked-about, least-seen bogeyman in the history of bogeymen" because the US has such a competitive marketplace for broadband that ISPs can't "run their systems on any basis other than trying to keep customers maximally happy." Net neutrality, therefore, could do nothing but stifle innovation.

Read Original Article:(Via Ars Technica.)

The Markey Net Neutrality Bill: Least Restrictive Network Management?: Via Freedom to Tinker.

It's an exciting time in the net neutrality debate. FCC Chairman Jules Genachowski's speech on Monday promised a new FCC proceeding that will aim to create a formal rule to replace the Commission's existing policy statement.

Meanwhile, net neutrality advocates in Congress are pondering new legislation for two reasons: First, there is a debate about whether the FCC currently has enough authority to enforce a net neutrality rule. Second, regardless of whether the Commission has such authority today or doesn't, some would rather see net neutrality rules etched into statute than leave them to the uncertainties of the rulemaking process under this and future Commissions.

One legislative proposal comes from Rep. Ed Markey and colleagues. Called the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009, its current draft is available on the Free Press web site. [ Read more ... ]

FCC Chairman Hits the Right Notes in Neutrality Speech: Via CDT - PolicyBeta.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski this morning ushered in a new phase of the long-running Internet neutrality debate. Over the past few years, the FCC has established some basic principles in a “Policy Statement.” It has issued Notices of Inquiry on network practices and held public meetings on the topic. And it has accused Comcast of violating the Policy Statement, resulting in a pending lawsuit. But now, the FCC will seek to adopt actual rules.

Genachowski’s speech touched on many themes that CDT has been stressing for a long time. (CDT issued this statement shortly after the speech was publicly released.) It is great to see that the FCC’s Chairman shares our perspective to such a remarkable degree. For example: [ Read more ... ]

"Preserving a Free and Open Internet: A Platform for Innovation, Opportunity, and Prosperity": Via OpenInternet.gov.

Prepared Remarks of
Chairman Julius Genachowski
The Brookings Institution, Washington DC
September 21, 2009

I’d like to thank Brookings for hosting me and this discussion about the future of broadband and the Internet.

We’ve just finished a summer of big-ticket commemorations, celebrating the 40th anniversaries of the Apollo landing and of Woodstock; 1969 was also a good year to be a kid in New York, with Joe Namath calling the Super Bowl, and the Knicks’ season that ended with the legendary Willis Reed in Game 7. I grew up a long fly ball from Shea Stadium and soaked up every minute of the Miracle Mets’ season. Maybe that’s why I tend to believe in miracles. [ Read more ... ]

Mark Lloyd and the Burden of Free Speech: Via CDT - PolicyBeta.

Mark Lloyd has devoted his long and distinguished public interest life to fighting for media diversity and free speech for all of us. In recognition of his career and expertise, he has been appointed Associate General Counsel at the FCC. Congratulations Mark! From all of us who served with you on the board of the Center for Democracy & Technology and all of those who have worked with you over the years.

Now Lloyd has been paid another honor: an attack from none other then Glen Beck, one of our leading media voices of rage and distortion who spends his time 24/7 working to smear anyone associated with progressive policies.

Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge has written a careful deconstruction of Beck’s distorted attack on Lloyd’s character and public record to set the record straight and it is worth a read at for anyone interested in the facts and truth. Unfortunately, we don’t think Beck or his followers are interested… but many will be. [ Read more ... ]

FCC Will Get Passing Votes for Net Neutrality: Via Post I.T. - A Technology Blog From The Washington Post - (washingtonpost.com).

The Federal Communications Commission's proposal of new rules to prevent companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deliberately blocking or slowing certain Web traffic is expected to receive a passing three votes out of the five-member agency, according to sources.

The proposal, to be announced Monday by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, will include an additional guideline for carriers that they make public the way they manage traffic on their network, according to sources at the agency. The additional guideline would be a "sixth principle" to four existing guidelines adopted in 2005 on Internet network operations. A fifth principle is expected to be announced by Genachowski on Monday during a speech at the Brookings Institute that would prohibit the discrimination of applications and services on telecommunications, cable and wireless Internet networks. [ Read more ... ]