Tag: P2P

Higher Ed Needs an IT Policy Task Force

Gigi Sohn — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:11:58 -0400

For the second straight year, I addressed the EDUCAUSE/Cornell Institute for Computer Policy and Law, held at Cornell’s beautiful campus. The Institute gathers 50+ higher education information technology (IT) professionals – usually campus CTOs, librarians and legal counsels, and teaches them the substantive particulars of IT policy issues and advises them how to be strong advocates.

George Ou: Protocol Agnostic doesn't mean Protocol Agnostic

Robb Topolski — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:48:18 -0400

George Ou, the former Technical Director of ZDNet, has found a new job where he continues to lead the technology sector by publishing innovative thoughts and ideas – sometimes not necessarily his own.

Comcast's Right Hand Admits FCC Jurisdiction, Left Hand Declines to Comment

Jef Pearlman — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:12:31 -0400

For months, Comcast spokespeople have been deny, deny, denying that the FCC has the power to do anything about Comcast’s throttling of BitTorrent traffic. Now, in papers filed as part of a class action lawsuit against Comcast, Comcast has gone the opposite direction, asserting that because “these issues are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the FCC, and because the FCC is actively investigating them,” the judge should put the suit on hold until the FCC renders a decision. The court has agreed, staying the case until the FCC acts.

Flash Gets Flashier With P2P

Jef Pearlman — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:19:51 -0400

If you haven’t heard yet, a beta of Adobe’s Flash Player Version 10 is available for download. It offers a host of new features, but one has implications that blow the others out of the water: built-in peer-to-peer. That’s right, all the tools necessary to build a p2p client will be built into the Flash plug-in.

Taking Net Neutrality to the Hill

Jef Pearlman — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:56:16 -0400

I just got back from a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on the future of the Internet. Much was said on both sides of the panelist table, so I’ll just take a moment to hit some highlights: competition and innovation, media consolidation and content, and FCC authority. One disclaimer: this summary represents (of course) how I interpreted the statements at the hearing. Where I can, I’ve included timestamps into the video; if you want more detail, watch the hearing direct from the Senate’s web site. Also, check out our press release.

VIDEO: FCC hearing on Network Management at Stanford

Alex Curtis — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:40:01 -0400

Yesterday, the FCC took a field trip to the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. There it heard from two panels of experts and policy shapers on the issue of network management and more broadly net neutrality. If you didn’t see it, or listen to the FCC’s stream of it, thankfully, it’s been video recorded and put on the web…

Panel I: Network Management and Consumer Expectations

Professor Lessig presented one of his illustrative keynotes at the start, and apparently he recorded the live audio and dubbed it to the video later:

Public Knowledge Calls Comcast-Pando Proposal 'Ludicrous'

Art Brodsky — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:43:14 -0400

For Immediate Release: April 15, 2008

Comcast and Pando, a company working on a more efficient method of distributing peer-to-peer content, announced today they will work on a “bill of rights” for P2P users and Internet Service Providers. The following is a statement from Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:

S. 4108, the APRIL Act, and the Realities Behind It

Sherwin Siy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:42:59 -0400

OK. Hopefully you all realized that S. 4108, the APRIL Act of 2008, was a joke. After all, there were a few excesses in there that would indicate how ludicrous the bill is.

Comcast: Beaten, But Not Defeated

Jef Pearlman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:45:40 -0400

Comcast has sent a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin clarifying last week’s announcement that they were in discussions with BitTorrent, Inc. about how to improve Comcast’s network management. In short: Comcast has “admitted” nothing, they do not “block” applications or “discriminate,” and the old system they say they will be replacing is still completely legitimate. It seems that Comcast thinks that the FCC needs to keep on investigating the petition as much as we do.

Comcast and BitTorrent: Together at Last? [Updated]

Jef Pearlman — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:59:24 -0400

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Comcast and BitTorrent, Inc. are now working together to “collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent’s technology more smoothly on Comcast’s broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network.” While we applaud application developers and network operators getting together to figure out how to improve the efficiency of the Internet, this changes nothing about the issues raised in the petitions on network management; the FCC must still act quickly to ensure that its four principles for broadband service have real meaning and that consumers are protected.