Michael's Insight

NCTA proposes freeing up phone subsides for broadband deployment

NCTA Outlines Ways For FCC To Free Up Funds For Broadband Deployment [Multichannel News]

Each year, the federal government hands out billions of dollars to rural telephone providers. The basis of the policy - providing universal phone service across America in areas where service might not exist without the subsidy - was a good idea when it was set up. However, in recent years cable operators have begun to provide competitive phone service in many areas where the incumbent providers receive this government subsidy. Now, in a bid to help the government find a better use for its precious resources, the NCTA, the cable industry's trade association, has petitioned the FCC to reallocate unneeded phone subsidies toward providing universal broadband access.

The NCTA petition for rule making includes a study that details the broad penetration of unsubsidized competitive phone providers in rural areas with incumbent phone providers that receive the government subsidy. It proposes that the FCC create a process by which the competitive provider can petition the government to end the incumbent's subsidy based on the fact that the provider serves more than 75 percent of a defined area. States could also determine a competitive threshold is being met. Based on finding that phone competition exists, the FCC could end the subsidy for the competitive area.

NCTA's petition indicates that up to $2 billion in current unnecessary subsidies can be redirected toward providing unserved areas with broadband access.

"As the record in the National Broadband Plan proceeding demonstrates, achieving the congressional goal of universal access to broadband capability will be difficult to achieve without government programs dedicated to deploying facilities in unserved areas and promoting adoption by underserved populations. As the Commission considers NCTA's proposal to reduce support where it no longer is needed, it separately should consider whether, and how, it could redirect any savings from NCTA's proposal to provide targeted funding to programs that promote broadband deployment and adoption."

Congress working on a requirement for ISPs to block online fraudsters

Congress may require ISPs to block fraud sites [CNET News]

Under a bill passed yesterday by the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, Internet providers would be required to block Internet materials - emails, web sites and instant messages - that could be used to perpetrate financial fraud. As part of the proposed Investor Protection Act, Representative Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, the bill's sponsor, has proposed that ISPs block materials from financial fraudsters posing as legitimate investment offers. The relevant part of the bill states:

Any Internet service provider that, on or through a system or network controlled or operated by the Internet service provider, transmits, routes, provides connections for, or stores any material containing any misrepresentation (of the SIPC) shall be liable for any damages caused thereby, including damages suffered by the SIPC, if the Internet service provider...is aware of facts or circumstances from which it is apparent that the material contains a misrepresentation.

The SIPC is the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. It's a federal agency charged with protecting investors from securities fraud, and many Internet fraudsters use the SIPC's name in their communications to victims to give the impression that they are legitimate securities dealers. Currently, Representative Kanjorski's proposed blocking language is rather broad, not only including web pages but all network transmissions, which has raised concerns among providers about the technical viability of implementing such a block.  According to this article, Kanjorski is willing to come up with a compromise that is technically viable while still providing consumers some protections against Internet fraudsters.

Of course, the best protection for Internet users against financial fraud is common sense. If an offer sounds to good to be true or has tell-tale signs of a fraud, ignore it and avoid clicking on links in suspicious email.

EU adopts new Internet regulations

European 'internet freedom' law agreed [ZDNet]

The European Union is set to approve an omnibus set of new regulations when it comes to the rights of Internet users across that continent. Called the Telecoms Reform Package, it is set to deal with issues that range from protections for copyright holders to number porting requirements to the right of citizens to have access to the Internet. While the legislation sets forth that access to the Internet is a fundamental right in European countries, it allows each country to set forth procedures for blocking Internet access for copyright pirates - based on a "prior fair and impartial procedure."

Much of the motivation for the legislation stems from countries, like France and Britain, where some legislators have put forth proposals to ban content pirates from the Internet after three occurrences of copyright infringement. Some consumer organizations were opposed to these laws, and the resulting debate has spawned this compromise.

P2P the source of another government breach

House Ethics Committee Document Exposed on Public Peer-to-Peer Network [PC Magazine]

It's just the latest in government documents that were supposed to be secret, but became public after being leaked onto an unsecured peer-to-peer network. The U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee has issued a statement regarding a document that detailed secret ethics investigations against 30 members of Congress that became public after it was exposed via a committee staffer's use of peer-to-peer software. The committee's investigations take place under strict secrecy - with members and staffers taking oaths not to reveal information about the committee's investigations, so the leaking of the document represents a major breach in the committee's protocol. The leaked document contained summaries of investigations of 30 lawmakers, and was given to The Washington Post by an Internet user that had downloaded it from the staffer's computer via P2P.

This isn't the first time that sensitive U.S. government data has been inadvertently leaked on a P2P network. Earlier this year, schematics for a new Marine One, the president's helicopter, were found on a P2P network via P2P software running on a government contractor's computer. The issue has also become the subject of a piece of legislation in the House called the Informed P2P User Act, which aims to prevent these types of leaks from occurring. Given this breach, it appears that it's time to add rules for government employees' use of P2P software.

Oregon cable modem hacker facing 20 years in prison after indictment

Feds Charge Cable Modem Modder With Aiding ‘Computer Intrusion’ [Wired - Threat Level]

Thinking about hacking your cable modem to squeeze a few more megs out of your broadband connection? Based on the experience of one Oregon hacker and writer, you might want to think twice before modding your modem. Ryan Harris, the 26 year-old author of a book entitled Hacking the Cable Modem, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting computer intrusion and wire fraud. The six-count indictment charges Harris with providing other hackers with the instructions and hardware to steal broadband service from their Internet service providers.

According to this article, in addition to writing the book on modding Motorola Surfboard modems, Harris is the project organizer of a group of hackers named TCNiSO, that specializes in selling users pre-hacked modems. Harris himself is alleged to have sold an FBI agent two hacked modems through TCNiSO's web site.

The hacked modems allow users to either steal broadband service by spoofing another legitimate user's cable modem MAC address or provide the user of the hacked modem access to uncapped broadband speeds. At least one of the users that TCNiSO and Harris are alleged to have aided in stealing broadband service has plead guilty to computer intrusion using a modded modem.

The moral of the story when it comes to experimenting with your cable modem - it's a lot easier and cheaper to simply upgrade and pay for your broadband speed legitimately. Using network management systems, cable operators can easily track and trace spoofed MAC addresses and modems that are eating more than their fair share of bandwidth. According to Broadband Reports, Harris faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution on each of the six counts.

Was that really worth avoiding paying $30, $40 or even $50 per month?

NCTA and NBC Universal file brief in Comcast network managment case

NCTA, NBCU: FCC BitTorrent Order 'Shackles' ISPs [Multichannel News]

The cable industry's trade association, NCTA and NBC Universal have filed a joint brief with the U.S. Federal Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit in the dispute between Comcast and the FCC regarding the cable operator's network management practices with respect to peer-to-peer protocols. As many readers recall, the FCC sanctioned Comcast just over a year ago for violations of the Commission's network non-discrimination guidelines. Comcast has contested the sanctions on the basis that the FCC's guidelines had not been formally adopted as rules.

The NCTA and NBCU filing indicates that the FCC's recent decision to plunge into a formal rule-making process for network non-discrimination would tend to support Comcast's contention that the Commission had not already adopted the guidelines as rules under which it sanctioned Comcast and that the Commission has admitted that Internet service providers need some leeway in managing their network to provide an enjoyable broadband experience for all users.

"[T]he FCC has now acknowledged that there is a legitimate need for network management by ISPs," the brief said. "Just a few weeks ago, in moving to establish the principles of the Policy Statement as enforceable rules, the FCC stated that it "recognize[s] the importance of preserving and protecting broadband providers' flexibility to manage their networks in a way that benefits consumers and will further the safety, security, and accessibility of the Internet' and that it is seeking to 'provide greater clarity regarding the Commission's approach ...[and] to provide greater predictability.' The FCC has now effectively conceded that the principles of the Policy Statement are not 'clear' as to 'who must comply and in what way' and disavowed the standard for reasonableness employed in the Order as 'unnecessarily restrictive.' "

It's hard to prove the negative but we know that without proper network management practices, the Internet would become a big pile of useless wires and electronics.  This new FCC should be methodical in its review of this very complex and critical issue.

The federal court will hear arguments in the case on January 8th of next year.

DVR viewing data indicates many viewers don't fast forward commercials

TV Execs Figure Out DVR Isn't The Death Of TV After All [Silicon Alley Insider]

A few years ago with digital video recorders coming into vogue, many broadcast television executives expressed a nervousness about how the future of ad-supported broadcast TV would be affected if viewers could simply record and fast-forward past the commercial breaks. But, as it turns out, they probably didn't have much to be concerned about. The New York Times reports that Nielsen data shows that DVR viewers are increasingly not fast-forwarding past the commercials (with the exception of my wife). And, the kicker is that DVR playback rates are increasing the ratings of some shows more than 20 percent over the live viewership.

Nielsen switched the way it measured television viewing a couple of years ago by tracking not only live views of commercials, but those watched in the next three days via DVR. Today, over one-third of American households have at least one DVR. Those in the network television business openly voiced concerns about the new measurements having a negative impact on show ratings - the yardstick for the cost of advertising on the shows - because viewers had the ability to skip the commercials with DVR technology.

But, it appears that many viewers are accustomed to simply watching television shows without going to the hassle of hitting the fast-forward button every time a commercial comes on. Nielsen reports that 46 percent of DVR television viewers 18 to 49 watch the recorded commercials, and it's that viewership that is helping shows that might otherwise have poor to middling ratings with live viewership report respectable if not great ratings via their recorded viewership.

Analyst calls AT&T U-verse a "bust"

Future of U-Verse Questioned [Suddenlink FYI]

Based on the report last week from Light Reading that AT&T's U-verse product growth is stalling, Suddenlink FYI points to the report of an analyst that believes that U-Verse will continue to loose steam because the product's engineering cannot make the jump to the next level of broadband speeds that customers want.

Samuel Greenholtz, a retired Verizon employee and founder of a consulting firm named Telecom Pragmatics, writes:

We expect dramatic cutbacks in U-verse CAPEX [capital expenditures] over the next two years. The service has pretty much been a bust. For AT&T, 3Q09 will probably “be identified as the quarter in which the U-verse star started to fade.”

AT&T’s U-verse will not be “getting in stride” or “picking up steam.” There are indications that point to significant pullback on CAPEX for the service in 2010 and 2011. The reason why these are not “hyper growth” times for U-verse is that the main technology used was doomed from the start.

U-verse technology uses the same twisted pair copper that Ma Bell has utilized for phone service for decades. At some point, its ability to transmit broadband speeds comparable to cable just can't keep up. And the analysis that U-verse technology is a "bust" are words coming from a former phone company employee. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.