Michael's Insight

The Threat to the First Amendment

There’s a reason why it was the FIRST amendment

The Trump administration sent into exile at least four mainstream news organizations earlier today. Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a briefing at the White House where he blocked The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, CNN and Politico from attending.

In doing so, the administration of the President of the United States has crossed a line. Limiting the press is the first order of business for anyone who seeks to rule unilaterally, without opposition and with total power.

Up until now, most have paid little or no attention to those who had been comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. But today’s actions were terrifying. A free press is as crucial to our democracy as are elections themselves. Without it, voters would lack the information they need to make the informed decisions that our founding fathers entrusted to them.

The truth is, there are some understandable reasons why Donald Trump was elected President. The political elite ignored the pain and plight of a huge swath of the American people for far too long. Those voters felt they had no voice in Washington. They felt helpless and they took action the best way they could in the last election.

But the hard fact is, their solution is turning out to be far worse than the problem. It threatens the very existence of our country and the Donald Trump administration is leading the way. Our founding fathers’ vision has endured two-and-a-half centuries primarily because a free and unfettered press has always been absolutely sacred to us.

Freedom is fragile. Democracy is complicated. There are many factors that contribute to our nation’s sustainability and one of the most important ones is a press that is free of government censorship.

The mainstream media needs to be adamant in their reaction to today’s move. They must understand that it may have been CNN today but could it be NBC tomorrow, the Washington Post on Sunday and the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

The one bright spot of the day was that two news organizations, Time Magazine and AP, boycotted the briefing in solidarity with their fellow members of the press. But that simply is not enough. All of the other mainstream media outlets must do the same.

The press itself has a critical obligation to fight this battle and fight it hard. If they don’t, they are derelict in their duty and they become complacent in Donald Trump’s attempt to silence them. Their reaction must be immediate, unified and thundering loud. In no uncertain terms, the message from the press to the administration must be,“ban one, ban us all.”

Google privacy update attracts concerns from Congress

House lawmakers request briefing on Google privacy policy changes [The Hill]

Google recently made some fairly significant changes to its privacy policy. This update involves consolidating all of a user's data across the various Google services into a single document.

This consolidation will allow Google to easily share privacy data for a specific user among its various sites and services – Google search, Google+, YouTube, etc. The consolidated data will also allow Google to direct advertisements on one Google service based on content viewed through a different Google service. 

Google is selling these changes as a way to tailor overall experiences – search, advertisements, content, etc. – to specific users.

Some members of congress aren't sure that it's as simple as Google has made it out to be. House Reps. Bono Mack (R-Cal.) and G.K. Butterfield (D.-N.C.) requested a briefing on the new policies in a letter written to Larry Page, Google's CEO. While these Representatives have lauded the "shorter, simpler, streamlined policy," they have concerns over how user data will be collected, stored, and secured. They are also concerned with the lack of an opt-out in the new policies.

Google has responded by saying that the new policies do not collect any new data and that users would still be able to control their privacy settings. The company also expressed its understanding about concerns and expressed an eagerness to clarify any "misconceptions about our privacy policies."  

Sounds like Google is finally coming to understand it can't act like a startup by ignoring Washington, DC when it has grown to the gargantuan that it has become.

 

Genachowski asks Congress to allow FCC to deal with unlicensed spectrum

FCC Chairman to Congress: Hands Off Unlicensed Spectrum [All Things D]

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski wants the issue of sorting out unlicensed spectrum to be the FCC's responsibility – without Congress' hand in the mix.

In a recent interview, Genachowski spoke about the bill passed by the House of Representatives that limits the role that the FCC would play in dealing with spectrum bands that have not been claimed or distributed to parties. He opposes that view point, even though there are other parts of the bill – such as having incentivized auctions to free up spectrum currently not being used – that Genachowski finds more agreeable.

Genachowski believes that FCC has the flexibility and expertise to put unused spectrum to the best use. He cited Wi-Fi as a prime example. According to Genachowski, the FCC was responsible for freeing up the spectrum that eventually became Wi-Fi. That whole process began by the FCC freeing up spectrum and making it available for others to innovate.

Genachowski believes that other successful developments can be made using spectrum – so long as the FCC is free to open it up as a "platform for innovation."

 

Amazon responds to Congressional concerns on Silk browser privacy

Amazon to Congress: No, Silk won't invade people's privacy [Ars Technica] 

Shortly after Amazon announced its new Silk browser for the Kindle Fire tablet, questions were raised by some members of Congress about the security of traffic on the new browser.

Silk is being promoted as an extra fast browser because it uses Amazon's massive server farms to store certain sites and web history on the cloud so that they load much faster than a typical HTTP request. That means that Amazon could end up having direct access to a large amount of user information.

Amazon has responded to these concerns by stating that stored web addresses will not be customer specific and will only be stored for 30 days. Amazon also says that information that is not approved for cacheing will not be kept and that all SSL traffic will not pass through Amazon's cloud infrastructure, instead moving directly from the tablets to the servers being targeted. 

Amazon claims that it does not intend to sell the information, but it did not deny that the information will be used internally for its product sales efforts. This response has not been enough to quell the concerns of Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, so we'll have to wait and see if and how Congress responds to Silk.

 

Federal authorities seize 150 domain names

Feds Seize 150 Domain Names in Counterfeit Crackdown [Wired]

Federal authorities are taking aim at websites that sell counterfeit or copyright-protected goods. In their latest action, authorities seized 150 domain names of sites that are believed to be committing these violations.

That brings the total number of seized domains to 350 since the feds started this effort. It's also probably not a coincidence that this action was taken on the biggest online shopping day of the year - Cyber Monday. Undercover agents reportedly purchased numerous products from the sites in order to prove the sites were actually committing these violations. 

Meanwhile, Congress is taking part in this fight as well by considering legislation that would give private stakeholders the ability to take down websites that violate their trademark and copyrights. The holders of the rights would be given the ability to block ad traffic to these sites, as well as financing in certain cases.

 In order to seize the sites, the federal authorities are relying on laws that allow them to seize other criminal property, such as drug houses and bank accounts. The feds use Verisign which controls the .net and .com domains and the Public Interest Registry which controls .org domains to access the domains and take them down.

 In order for these sites to regain their domains, they will have to prove that the property in question is rightfully theirs.

Federal officials investigating water utility hacking

US investigates cyber attack on Illinois water system [msnbc.com]

Federal officials have commenced an investigation into reports that a foreign cyber attack was responsible for a water pump in Illinois that was remotely shut down on November 8. If the reports are correct, it would mark the first ever foreign cyber attack on a U.S. industrial or utility system.

According to the initial reports, hackers were able to access the water utility's network in a rural Illinois community. The network was used by the utility to control various industrial systems, and the hackers were apparently able to access the network credentials through the software company used by the utility. It's unclear at this point whether the hackers were able to obtain other data from the software maker or if they are planning other attacks. 

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated that there currently was no data indicating a threat to pubic safety or to critical infrastructure. Still, the reported attacks highlight the seriousness of cyber attacks to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition or "SCADA" systems that control critical infrastructure in the U.S. Many of these systems are reportedly old and vulnerable, making them more susceptible to attack.

House committee investigates bankrupt broadband stimulus recipient

House probes $267M loan to bankrupt broadband firm [The Hill]

On Wednesday, the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives began an investigation into a loan for $267 million to Open Range Communications from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Open Range filed for bankruptcy earlier in November, despite receiving the largest loan given out as part of the USDA Rural Utilities Service's broadband development plan. Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the committee said that the bankruptcy of Open Range puts "$73.5 million of taxpayer money at risk."

The committee wants to look more closely at the RUS's application process for Open Range to figure out why the agency decided to invest so much in the company. The committee also wants to understand what type of oversight the RUS exercised after the funds were distributed to make sure they were used as the program intended.

The loan was approved in March of 2008 as part of the broadband stimulus project which was aimed at providing broadband to rural communities. Since the first funds were granted, the program has had its fair share of failures and controversies.

There are references in the investigation letter to concerns over the general oversight by the USDA over the broadband loan programs. One allegation stated that a total of $340 million had been improperly granted, because of either incomplete applications, defaulted loans, or inappropriate purposes for granting the loans.

68 percent of U.S. households have a broadband connection

NTIA: Broadband Use Up, Gap Remains [Multichannel News]

The percentage of U.S. households with broadband Internet is now greater than two-thirds. Broadband usage jumped from 64% in 2010 to 68% this year, according to the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA). 

The majority of broadband users are getting their service from cable. Roughly 32% use a cable modem compared to 23% who get broadband from a DSL connection. 

The NTIA's study also examined the reasons people do not have broadband and actually found that only 24% cited cost as their main reason for not having broadband and 15% said lack of a computer was the reason. The top reason people chose not to have broadband was simply a lack of interest – the reason given by 47% of non-users.

It's notable that the NTIA report was released the same day that the FCC and cable providers announced the Connect To Compete program designed to increase broadband adoption.  But the report highlights the simple fact that many people who do not have broadband simply don't want it.  

 

Cable providers partner with FCC to close the digital divide

Cable Companies Battle Digital Divide With $9.95 a Month Broadband [Mashable]

A new initiative involving multiple cable and technology companies is looking to bring affordable broadband Internet and computers to low-income families. The Connect To Compete program is an FCC initiative with a goal of connecting as many as 5.5 million of the 35 million total households throughout the country that do not have broadband.

Several cable companies, including Cox and Time Warner Cable, have agreed to offer broadband connections to households with school-age children eligible for the federal free school lunch program for $9.95 a month. The offer will begin with the 2012-13 school year.

Both Microsoft and Best Buy have also signed on with a promise to offer PCs equipped with Microsoft Office to qualifying low-income households for $250. In addition, Redemtech will sell refurbished computers for as low as $150.

The FCC has had a long-standing goal of expanding broadband in the U.S. and hopes this private-public partnership will be more effective than some of the previous efforts. The FCC points to facts such as 80% of Fortune 500 companies only give jobs via online applications and young people with broadband Internet graduate at a 7% higher rate than those without it to justify the growing need for the expansion of broadband.

 

Federal agency yanks broadband stimulus grant

NTIA Pulls Plug on $80M Louisiana Broadband Grant [Multichannel News]

The plan was to deploy 900 plus miles of fiber across Louisiana to serve some of the poorest areas of the state with broadband services. Funding was promised in the form of an $80 million grant from the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) as a part of the federal broadband stimulus. 

Now, after numerous delays and reports of inadequate planning, the NTIA is pulling all of the funds and canceling the project. Overall, the BTOP program has promised billions of dollars in similar broadband deployment efforts across the country, and the failures in Louisiana shed some light on some of the problems with implementation of the initiative.

An NTIA administrator said that the Louisiana project "promised great benefits to unserved and underserved areas of the state." However, as the project proceeded the initial goals were unable to be met, putting the project significantly behind schedule. At that point, Louisiana proposed significant changes to the proposal without the details and scheduling that would inspire confidence in the program's future.

The funds that have been recouped will now be returned to the U.S. Treasury.

DOCSIS 3.0 deployment expected to cover 77 percent of U.S. households by end of 2011

The State of Docsis 3.0 [Light Reading – The Bauminator]

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association has released the results of a recent study of broadband deployment in a letter to the FCC. According to these results, 60 percent of all U.S. households have had DOCSIS 3.0, cable's advanced broadband standard, deployed by their cable providers. By the end of 2011, that number is expected to be as high as 77 percent.

The report not only shows the overall success of DOCSIS 3.0, but also highlights the fact that DOCSIS 3.0 is making its way to smaller, more rural areas as well – independent from government intervention. This is important information for the FCC's current considerations regarding the National Broadband Plan and Universal Service Fund reform.

Regardless of how the FCC chooses to use this information in its future rule makings, it shows very significant progress in DOCSIS 3.0 roll out in the very brief time it has been in existence.  DOCSIS 3.0 first hit the market when Comcast deployed it in Minnesota back in April of 2008.

 

Net neutrality lawsuits to be heard by D.C. circuit

D.C. Court to hear challenges to Net Neutrality rules [CNET News]

The various challenges that have been made to the net neutrality rules that were passed by the FCC in 2010 will be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. 

Soon after the rules were enacted, Verizon and MetroPCS brought claims challenging the rules. These challenges were brought before the D.C. Circuit, in large part because of that Court's ruling against the FCC in the Comcast case. That case revolved around allegations that Comcast had improperly been slowing down certain kinds of traffic on its network. Because of the Court's ruling in that case, Verizon in particular, believed that it had a good chance for success in its net neutrality challenge.

The D.C. District dismissed the initial claims by Verizon and MetroPCS because they the issues were not yet ready for consideration. The net neutrality rules cannot be challenged until they have been properly filed in the Federal Register. 

Recently, Free Press also brought suit against the FCC and its net neutrality rules, and several claims in support of the rules were filed in various other Circuits. Those claims were brought before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Verizon refiled its claim last week and on Thursday the D.C. Circuit was chosen at random to be the court to hear the challenges.

 

Only 3,000 CableCards deployed in previous three months

MSOs Deployed 3,000 Standalone CableCards In Last Three Months [Multichannel News]

According to the latest report from the cable industry's trade association, NCTA, only 3,000 standalone CableCards were put into service by the ten largest cable providers in the past three months. 

During the same period over 700,000 CableCard-enabled set-tops were deployed. To this point, over 30 million of the CableCard set-tops have been deployed compared to only 585,000 standalone CableCards.

CableCards can be used in devices like TiVo DVRs, but have simply not caught on among consumers as much as set-tops. In 2007, the FCC implemented a ban on "integrated set-tops" in the hope of increasing the amount of standalone CableCards and the devices that use them. 

Despite the relative lack of interest among consumers for standalone CableCards, the FCC has recently implemented new CableCard requirements and is considering a proposal called AllVid, which would require all providers to use a different third-party hardware device with common technical interfaces.

First suit filed against FCC's net neutrality rules

FCC Sued Over "Net Neutrality" [All Things D]

A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday against the FCC and its recently published net neutrality rules, which are set to take effect on November 20. Unlike previous lawsuits regarding the rules which were filed by broadband providers, this suit was filed by Free Press, an interest group focusing on media and communication.

Free Press's lawsuit attacks the manner by which the FCC enacted the rules that outline how Internet service providers can manage traffic. The suit takes particular issue with the FCC's decision to adopt a specific set of rules for wireline broadband services and a separate set of rules for wireless providers.

Earlier this year, Verizon and MetroPCS brought suit to block the new rules from taking effect. Those claims were dismissed for being filed too early. Verizon has said it intends to refile its suit but has not yet confirmed when they might do so.

Free Press's suit is before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Much was made about Verizon's decision to file with the D.C. Circuit, which ruled in 2010 against the enforcement of net neutrality against Comcast.

Google pushing for policy changes related to fiber project

Google to government: Let us build a faster Net [CNET News]

After announcing an inititative to build a residential gigabit fiber optic network in 2010 and choosing Kansas City as the testbed for the network earlier this year, Google appears interested in replicating the Kansas City project elsewhere if it can acheive some public policy changes. Kevin Lo, Google's general manager of access, heads up the Google Fiber project, and spoke to a group of providers at the World Broadband Forum in France this week, telling the audience that Google chose Kansas City because it removed some regulatory hurdles and that Google has an agenda for regulatory reform that could pave the way for additional investments.

Lo mentioned three specific changes policy changes - reforming access to public rights of way for fiber deployment, reforming access to utility poles for fiber deployment and creation of special service districts that would remove municipal zoning restrictions - that he believed would spur more investment in faster broadband.  

Having spent 37 years in the cable business, I know this is quite an ask.  Local governments will certainly object to any Federalizing of their oversight of their rights of ways and utility pole owners will have equally strong feelings about losing control over attachments to their property.

Notably, Lo didn't reveal Google's plans for fiber beyond Kansas City, so enactment of any of the proposed reforms wouldn't necessarily increase the changes of Google fiber in other locales. Lo also indicated that Google expected to see a return on its investment in the Kansas City network.

FCC sets first white space database trial

FCC set to trial first database for Super Wi-Fi [GigaOM]

The FCC announced this week the first trial of a database for its white space broadband initiative. White space broadband rules were adopted by the Commission last year in order to provide an opportunity to test whether broadband could be delivered wirelessly in areas of the television broadcast spectrum that are unused. Because those unused frequencies vary in different parts of the U.S., a database of occupied frequencies is required to prevent white space devices from interfering with television broadcasts, cable headends, wireless microphones among other uses of this part of the spectrum.

Spectrum Bridge is the company that has developed the white space database the FCC is testing starting on September 19 and running for 45 days. The FCC and Spectrum Bridge are allowing the public to participate in the trial, via this web site.

Obviously for white space broadband to become a reality, the technology to prevent it from interfering with licensed use of the same portion of spectrum must work flawlessly. If a neighbor's white space broadband access has a deleterious affect on your television signal, then this technology isn't ready to proceed to market. 

Sprint follows DOJ on AT&T/T-Mobile merger lawsuit

Sprint sues to stop AT&T, T-Mobile merger [The Hill]

Less than a week after the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T, Sprint has brought a suit of its own alleging that the acquisition is "brazenly anti-competitive."

Sprint alleges that if the deal were to go through, AT&T and Verizon would together own 90% of the mobile market. Sprint would be a distant third option in that scenario. Sprint believes that giving this much power over the mobile market to AT&T would result in an ability to increase rates, restrict access to certain handsets, and negatively impact any competition.

Interestingly, Sprint had been in talks to purchase T-Mobile before AT&T stepped in and there are still rumors that Sprint might bid on T-Mobile if the AT&T deal fell through. However, many reports indicate that Sprint simply does not have the money for a purchase of that size.

Similar to the DOJ's claims, Sprint alleges that this deal is an attempt by AT&T to eliminate an innovative, low-price competitor, which would effectively clear the road for AT&T's dominantion in the mobile market.

LIN Media pulls signals from Mediacom customers

LIN Stations Go Dark For Mediacom Subs [Multichannel News]

Here we go again.  Mediacom customers are the latest victims of a dispute invoving outrageously high demands for over-the-air broadcast programming, as LIN Media has pulled its programming off Mediacom's systems due to the lack of a renewal agreement over the retransmission fees. LIN owns 32 broadcast sations in 17 U.S. markets.

Mediacom released a statement saying that the "huge increase" in fees that LIN has demanded is unacceptable and Mediacom refuses to cave-in to the high demands and the price increases likely to result for its consumers.

The Mediacom/LIN dispute is just another example of the broken retransmission consent process. Huge increases in fees are being demanded by broadcasters, forcing cable operators (and ultimately their customers) either to agree to pay them whatever they demand or lose the channel.  Retransmission consent was born out of cable legislation designed to protect local broadcasting tweny years ago, even though the broadcaster is given public spectrum to distribute their signals for free.  As demonstrated in so many of these very public battles, if the broadcaster's steep demands aren't met by a cable provider, the broadcaster often pulls the signal, leaving customers in the dark.

The FCC is currently conducting an inquiry into the issue, which could result in changes in the retransmission consent rules. While there are many options available to the FCC in making changes - including binding arbitration when negotiations fail - ultimately the Commission should make changes that best serve customers -- not broadcasters and not cable operators. Hopefully these changes will be made soon, before another group of customers loses their broadcast programming to a dispute.

DOJ files suit on AT&T/T-Mobile merger

DOJ files to block AT&T, T-Mobile merger [The Hill]

AT&T's $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile hit a significant roadblock on Wednesday when the U.S. Department of Justice filed to block the acquisition.

The suit was filed based on anti-trust concerns the DOJ has over the merger of the two large mobile carriers. The DOJ is worried that the merger could result in much higher prices, fewer options, and lower quality services for customers. 

The acquisition of T-Mobile would make AT&T the largest mobile provider in the U.S. and would result in 80 percent of the mobile market being controlled by the two largest providers - AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile, on the other hand, has been a "aggressive competitor" in the eyes of the DOJ and has created the exact competition the DOJ is looking for by offering low-cost cellular plans. Their low-cost offering were clearly a major factor in the filing of the suit. The DOJ clearly doesn't like the idea of AT&T gobbling up smaller mobile competitors who compete by offering lower prices. 

The case will now be heard by a federal court, where AT&T will challenge the DOJ's claims. The DOJ actually has the burden of proving that AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile would, in fact, have the affect of anti-competition in the mobile market. 

The merger is also currently being reviewed by the FCC, and while FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski didn't commit to any affirmative action against the merger, he did echo some of the sentiments of the DOJ in a recent statement. 

 

Study reveals significant overbuilding in broadband stimulus

Study argues rural broadband stimulus wasn't effective [The Hill] 

Seven billion dollars of the 2009 Recovery Act was dedicated to the deployment of broadband for unserved areas. Since allocating these funds many policymakers have raised the question whether the program was effective in reaching its goals. 

A recent report from Navigant Economics reveals evidence that the broadband stimulus was not a cost-effective program and too often simply created a government funded overbuild in areas where private companies had already built broadband networks. 

Navigant analyzed a sampling of the broadband stimulus programs and found that the Rural Utilities Service funded broadband build outs to areas where 85% of the homes were already served by cable, DSL, or fixed wireless broadband. If wireless broadband is included, Navigant found that $231 million was spent to bring service to a mere 452 households that were unserved. 

The government program did not include wireless broadband in its figures, which Navigant cites as  a mistake, especially considering that many wireless speeds exceed the benchmark speeds established by the government for broadband.

Amazon ends affiliate program in California after online sales tax passes

Amazon kills affiliate program in California over sales tax battle [GigaOM]

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a bill into law that imposes state sales tax on all online transactions made within the state. Similar bills have been passed in a number of other states, despite of the efforts of online retailers to prevent their passage.

Each time a state passes an online sales tax bill, Amazon, the Internet's largest retailer, has terminated its associate programs in the state. Amazon Associates are third-party affiliate marketers for Amazon in each state that agree to sell products on Amazon and receive commissions for Amazon referrals and linking their websites to Amazon. 

Amazon has warned states considering levying sales tax for online sales that it would end its affiliate programs, and so far Amazon has made good on that warning.

California had well over 10,000 Amazon affiliates, and in a recent letter Amazon stated that all contracts with those affiliates were terminated as of June 29, 2011. As other states look to an online sales tax to fill in budget deficits, expect this issue to be raised again.

Judge rules Google Street View wi-fi sniffing subject to Wiretap Act

Judge: Google Can Be Sued for Wiretapping in Street View Debacle [Wired: Threat Level]

Last year, Google got into hot water when it was revealed that its Street View fleet surreptitiously downloaded content from open wi-fi networks around the U.S. While Google initially claimed that its actions were designed to create location data for public wi-fi networks, it later admitted that it had downloaded over 600 GB of data from wireless networks with code that was planted by a company engineer without proper approval to do so.

Now, in a civil action filed by plaintiffs against Google Street View activities, a federal district judge in California has ruled that Google can be held liable for damages under the Wiretap Act. Judge James Ware ruled that even though the networks were not transmitting data that was encrypted, that the data was not open to the general public based on the fact that Google used packet sniffing technology Google to download. 

The case could set a significant prescendent when it comes to open wi-fi networks and those that might seek to intercept transmissions over those networks. Google has not yet responded to the judge's ruling in the case. 

FTC's Liebowitz speaks about tiered broadband pricing at the Cable Show

Public Policy Discussion with FTC and FCC Commissioners [The Cable Show Blog]

This year's Cable Show featured a lunch session with an FCC and an FTC official – FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn – to discuss a variety of public policy and regulatory issues facing the cable and broadband industries. The panel discussed topics ranging from geolocation data collection to net neutrality and broadband deployment.

The panel also touched on broadband pricing plans when NCTA's James Assey asked Commissioner Leibowitz for his thoughts on tiered pricing plans for broadband that charged higher rates to users who consumed greater amounts of a data. 

Leibowitz expressed surprise that more tiered pricing plans had not already worked their way into the market. Leibowitz said that just about every other product on the market was sold based on the volume used by customers. It only makes sense, according to Leibowitz, that broadband would be treated the same.

Leibowitz did go on to state that tiered pricing plans would need to be fully disclosed and explained to consumers so that they fully understood the terms of the plan they were receiving.

FCC Chairman Genachowski speaks at 2011 Cable Show

The Cable Show 2011: Genachowski: Broadband Adoption 'Just Not Good Enough' [Broadcasting and Cable]

On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski spoke to the attendees of the 2011 Cable Show in Chicago. One of the main tenets of Genachowski's tenure at the FCC has been looking at ways that the commission's policies can be used to increase broadband availability and adoption in the U.S., which dovetails with the message he shared with the cable industry this week.

In a conversation with new NCTA president and former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Genachowski called on the industry to assist in increasing its broadband adoption efforts. Calling broadband what "powers the American dream and empowers people to find and get jobs, an education, and health care," Genachowski said that the nation must set our goal to get broadband adoption higher than 67 percent of American homes.  He challenged the cable industry to help accelerate the current rate of increase to than one to two percentage points per year, where it is now.

Genachowski pointed to adoption programs that Cox Communications and Comcast have undertaken as model initiatives that can increase the adoption rate. He also took the opportunity to announce a public/private task force charged with coming up with new ideas that could increase broadband adoption.

NCTA President Powell noted that cable providers currently provide service to 93 percent of American households and that the industry looked forward to partnering with the FCC to increase the number of Americans with broadband.

Spanish police arrest three alleged to be involved in Sony attack

Spain Detains 3 in PlayStation Cyberattacks [New York Times]

On Friday, Spanish police stated that they detained three men who are suspected to have been part of the recent attacks on Sony's PlayStation Network. These men are also being detained as suspects in other cyberattacks on various corporate and government web sites.

The suspects are said to be members of the leadership of the well-known international group of hackers known as Anonymous. Over the years, Anonymous has claimed responsibility for a long list of cyberattacks.

A search of one of the suspect's apartments in the Spanish city of Gijon led to the discovery of a computer server which officials believe was used to attack the Sony PlayStation Network – an attack that compromised the personal data of millions of users and also compromised some users' credit card information.

This server is also believed to have been responsible for attacks to BBVA and Bankia banks in Spain, Enel energy company in Italy, as well as government sites in a number of countries throughout the world.

The three men have been released without bail, but are expected to face charges of forming illegal associations to engage in cyberattacks, which could carry a sentence of up to three years.  Sounds like a pretty light sentence, given the havoc they have created.   If cyberspace is ever going to be safe, the world is going to have to get serious about enforcing hacking laws.

Sony has declined to comment on the detentions to this point.