Public Knowledge was one of a group of organizations and companies which yesterday asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require Verizon and Comcast to file more details about their proposed new business arrangements.

The letter is here.  

Verizon has agreed to pay $3.6 billion to several cable companies, led by Comcast, for spectrum those companies hold but have not developed.  In addition, there are agreements for Verizon to market cable products and to work together to develop new technology.

It says something about the messed up world of telecom today that the “Connect America Fund” the FCC will vote on tomorrow has become the “what the heck are we going to do about IP-based interconnection” proceeding. In particular, the rather high-profile spat between AT&T and Comcast (and other cable companies) over access charges illustrates exactly the kind of cosmic cluster#@$! we predicted would happen if the FCC failed to classify broadband as a Title II telecom service.

We have been talking more and more about the arbitrary limits that ISPs (both wired and wireless) have been imposing on consumers’ internet connections.  These limits are arbitrary because they do not seem to be based on any sort of technical evaluation.  AT&T wireless and Verizon wireless impose a 2 GB limit on their standard data packages – why 2GB as opposed to, say 1 GB or 3 GB?  Similarly, AT&T (wired) imposes a 150 GB limit on customers [update: AT&T imposes a 150 GB cap on DSL customers and a 250 GB cap on U-verse customers].  Comcast’s limit is 250 GB.  Where did these limits come from?  No one (outside of the company) has any idea.  For all we know, the companies just spun a big wheel to choose the cap.  In this murky world the only thing that is clear is that, while AT&T and Comcast’s network supports hundreds of TV channels, their internet limits prevent you from getting rid of their pay-TV offering and replacing it with a competing internet video service.

On today's podcast, we discuss the time traveling spectrum bill, monkey copyright, Comcast running into trouble with data caps, and updates from the Creators Freedom Project.  We also discuss Newport Television's attempt to silence criticism from Free Press by sending them a bogus DMCA takedown notice with Free Press Policy Counsel Corie Wright.

Creators' Freedom Project Related Events:

Working with Outside the Box Music, we're putting on our next "Rock Your Net" Internet marketing series, which starts August 4th in Nashville, TN. For more details, go here.

Parachute Musical and Ocean Is Theory, two bands that CFP is working with have a show in DC on Saturday, July 23 at DC9. More details on the bands' websites, download a free track from both bands here.

The 1861 Project is having its Album Release party next Tues, July 19 @ 7PM at Nashville's Basement. To RSVP, check out this Facebook Event.

You can download the audio directly by clicking here (MP3) or stream it using the player below:

Want to subscribe to our podcast? Click here for the MP3 feed.

The story of Andre Vrignaud may well end up being the template for the soon-to-be-popular genre of “I just hit my data cap and now I cannot access the internet” stories.  The long version is here, but the short version is that Vrignaud got a call from his ISP Comcast last month.  The call informed him that he had hit his 250 GB monthly data cap.  He wasn’t really sure why (he has roommates, they all stream movies and music regularly) but he chalked it up to one of those things.

This month he got another call from Comcast telling him he hit his cap again.  Because this was the second time, Comcast informed him that they were cutting off his internet access for a year.

The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:

“I would like to wish my fellow Boston University alum Joe Waz a peaceful retirement from Comcast, but that won't be easy.  Although he is leaving the company, Joe will continue to be active in the field as the first chairman of the Broadband Internet Technology Advisory Group and as a senior fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship.  I am affiliated with both, and look forward to working with Joe in his new roles.

“Joe had an exemplary full-time career, starting with the Telecommunications Research and Action Center, a Ralph Nader group, and continuing through his consulting work and position with Comcast.  I enjoyed working with him, even though we may disagree on issues from time to time and always believed he was an honest broker of ideas.”

Next week, the “government takeover of the Internet” meme will be on full display in the U.S. Congress.  People will be able to see what it means when the government goes after vital parts of the Internet with a vengeance.

The sad part is the U.S. Congress is largely OK with it.

The difference, you see, is that a “government takeover” of the Internet is fine, as long as it is for a good cause. For those members of Congress who wish to give AT&T, Verizon and Comcast/NBC free rein over the Internet, protecting consumers while stimulating competition, creating jobs and promoting innovation is not a good cause. 

In all the hoo ha about the Comcast/NBCU Merger, few folks troubled to read the Department of Justice Competitive Impact Statement, Complaint, and Consent Decree. That’s rather unfortunate, as these documents sets forth a straightforward case under the antitrust laws for program access conditions for online competitors and for network neutrality. Here’s the short version:  Comcast pre-merger makes almost 30 times more money from providing cable service than from programming revenues. Even adding all of NBCU’s revenue, Comcast will still make more than twice as much from selling cable service ($34 billion) as from programming ($16.9 billion).