FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski pledged his "unwavering commitment" to a "free and open Internet" today during a public workshop on the topic in Seattle.
He specifically called out Comcast's traffic throttling, which ultimately led to a court ruling that cast doubt on the FCC's ability to impose net neutrality rules.
"And it was just a few hours south of here on the I-5-in Hillsboro, Oregon that Comcast's secret blocking of lawful Internet traffic was discovered -- by an engineer and former police officer who loves barbershop quartets and simply wanted to share lawful music clips with others. That experience and others made clear that an Internet in the dark runs too great a risk of becoming a closed Internet -- with substantial costs to our ability to lead the world in innovation and freedom."
"...The recent court decision was, of course, an unfortunate development. But it has done nothing to weaken my unwavering commitment to ensuring that the free and open Internet is preserved and protected."
Public-interest group Free Press on Tuesday said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski had "hemmed, hawed and hedged" on the commission's next move in the net neutrality debate.
The group -- which leads a coalition of businesses, academics and individuals in support of net neutrality -- also launched an open Internet clock to measure the days and minutes since a federal court ruling stripped the FCC of its power to regulate broadband providers.
As of Wednesday afternoon, it had been 22 days and about 3 hours since Comcast declared victory in that landmark case, according to Free Press' Save the Internet clock.
“The time for deliberation is over," said Craig Aaron, the managing director for Free Press, which supports net neutrality. "The FCC chairman has promised the American public that he would defend Net Neutrality and take any steps needed to ensure that every American can get fast, affordable, world-class Internet service."
U.S. businesses would be blocked from selling computers and other electronics to the Chinese government, unless they share their encryption technology with officials in Beijing by this weekend.
Saturday marks the deadline by which certain tech firms must submit to China a series of details about their security tools. Failure to do so, according to officials, means those businesses will lose access to the multi-million dollar market for Chinese government contracts.
The new rules do not apply to all tech products; rather only manufacturers of Internet firewalls and Web routers, among six total tech areas, must submit their encryption techniques. Still, only Chinese companies have so far submitted the necessary information, which experts fear China will only use to bolster its practice of rooting out online dissidents and blocking content on the Internet.
As tech groups grow increasingly frustrated with the new rule, which they decry as protectionist, U.S. and European officials have pressed their Chinese counterparts to abandon their plans.
The U.S. Trade Representative's office reportedly "pressed China to address the concerns of foreign governments and industry before implementing the testing and certification rules," a spokeswoman told reporters this week, adding the Obama administration hopes China will soon "follow global norms."
After four years of steady growth, the high-tech industry lost 245,600 jobs in 2009, or 4 percent of its workforce, according to the Cyberstates report released today by TechAmerica.
Engineering and tech services jobs suffered the biggest blow, losing 59,000 jobs. Communications services shed 53,000 jobs. Software services lost 20,700 jobs.
Some states did manage to add tech jobs in 2008, however. California, Texas, Washington, Massachusetts and Virginia added the most. Virginia had the highest concentration of tech workers for the fourth straight year.
But Oregon, New Mexico, Arkansas, Puerto Rico and Michigan all lost more than 1,000 jobs in 2008.
By employment, the top cyberstates: --California: 993,300 --Texas: 492,400 --New York: 312,300 --Florida: 292,300 --Virginia: 283,400 By salary, the top cyberstates: --California: $105,500 --Massachusetts: $102,300 --Washington: $97,900 --New Jersey: $95,800 --District of Columbia: $92,600
Rep. Zoe Loffgren (D-Calif.) said her Sillicon Valley district is showing new signs of life.
"Sillicon Valley companies are starting to wake up," she said today during a press conference on copyright.
And now that companies are starting to hire again, they need to have access to content that will help them develop new technologies.
"That is based on the free flow of information, not on locking it down," she said in reference to the fair use doctrine, which allows some copyrighted content to be used without permission.
Fair use, she said, is necessary for software companies, web firms and manufacturers.
Content owners, however, say high piracy rates is holding them back from economic growth and that stricter copyright enforcement is needed.
"The content industry has had a very successful track record in international trade, and that's great for our country," she said. "The content owners -- Hollywood, especially -- certainly deserve recognition, but they should not be able to ... lock down the content."
Companies that rely on fair use generate $4.7 trillion in revenue, according to a study released today by the Computer & Communications Industry Association.
That's about a quarter of the U.S. economic growth. The report concludes that fair use -- an exception to the copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted materials -- is crucial to new innovation.
CCIA came out with the study a day after Intellectual Property Day, during which content companies, including Hollywood and music studios, said more protections against piracy are needed.
A report released yesterday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce concluded that more aggressive protections for copyrighted and patented work is necessary to spur economic growth and job creation.
Read more...
House officials could soon relax rules that prohibit lawmakers from using Skype and other video conferencing tools to communicate with their constituents.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) has asked the chamber's Chief Administrative Officer and the House Committee on Administration to "further explore whether Skype can be utilized in a manner that will not compromise House information security infrastructure and policies that were implemented in 2006," according to Kyle Anderson, a spokesman for committee Chairman Robert Brady (D-Pa.)
That review is "currently underway," Anderson told The Hill on Tuesday, noting that "Speaker Pelosi is committed to ensuring that communication tools are available for Members to reach their constituents."
Currently, Skype and related sites are regarded as "unauthorized," and are blocked on all House computers, primarily because Democrats once believed the site posed key security risks to congressional networks.
To change that provision, Democrats on the House Administration Committee would have to initiate an amendment process, which would be subject to a committee vote, according to staff.
House GOP leaders are now calling on their counterparts to do just that, stressing that innumerable businesses already use Skype and similar sites with great success. They noted in their letter that the change could be implemented in such a way that also take into account the chamber's larger cybersecurity needs.
"Current House rules allow Members of Congress to use taxpayer funds to conduct traditional, often expensive, video teleconferencing activities with their constituents, but forbid them from using Skype -- which is practically free -- for such activities," they wrote in the letter.
"We are certain that Skype, an increasingly relevant communication tool for Americans already widely used in the private sector, could be easily implemented in Congress in a manner that would not reduce the security of the House IT infrastructure," they continued.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
