Statement from FCC Ch Tom Wheeler on the Comcast / TWC Merger

 STATEMENT FROM FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER ON THE COMCAST-TIME WARNER CABLE MERGER.   FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler issued the following statement today after Comcast announced its decision to abandon its $45 billion dollar bid to acquire Time Warner Cable.  STMT. OCHTW  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-333175A1.docx
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-333175A1.pdf

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler issued the following statement today after Comcast announced its decision to abandon its $45 billion dollar bid to acquire Time Warner Cable. Comcast's announcement comes after the Federal Communications Commission staff informed the companies of their serious concerns that the merger risks outweighed the benefits to the public interest.

"Comcast and Time Warner Cable’s decision to end Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable is in the best interests of consumers. The proposed transaction would have created a company with the most broadband and video subscribers in the nation alongside the ownership of significant programming interests.

 "Today, an online video market is emerging that offers new business models and greater consumer choice. The proposed merger would have posed an unacceptable risk to competition and innovation especially given the growing importance of high-speed broadband to online video and innovative new services.

I am proud of our close working relationship throughout the review process with the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. Our collaboration provided both agencies with a deeper understanding of the important issues of innovation and competition that the proposed transaction raised.”

John Oliver :: Patent Trolls

Panel Discussion: Government Surveillance & The Future of the Internet

You are invited to attend:

Government Surveillance & The Future of the Internet

Eventbrite Registration Required: http://internet-surveillance.eventbrite.com<http://isoc-dc.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=358411e27b5e6aa5e77bfc9f2&id=bc23781eb6&e=e27ba18ccd>

Monday, May 18, 2015 from 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

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Governments have a special responsibility among stakeholders to make the Internet secure.  However, the Snowden revelations revealed that many governments, including the US, use the Internet to monitor, spy on and attack other governments, organizations, individuals and businesses. In March, we also learned that China is using the Great Cannon, a new malware tool to censor information.  These revelations have stimulated a global backlash against pervasive Government data collection, Internet surveillance, and government use of malware and netizens are increasingly worried about Internet stability and security.

On May 18, 12:30-2, The Institute for International Economic Policy at The George Washington University (IIEP) and the Greater Washington DC Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-DC) will jointly host a moderated discussion between Bruce Schneier, noted authority on cybersecurity and Chris Riley, Vice President and Head of Public Policy at Mozilla.

Our panel will discuss how increasing surveillance and use of malware could impact the future of the Internet, including:

  *   Increased pressure from law enforcement for backdoors to encryption;
  *   Increased calls for data localization (as in France);
  *   International pressure influencing the IANA transfer;
  *   Less legal emphasis/protections on privacy at national levels;
  *   Less trust in government policies and strategies to maintain Internet stability;
  *   The threat of Internet fragmentation.


Panelists:

Bruce Schneier, Security Technologist and Author

Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a "security guru" by The Economist He is the author of 12 books – including his latest best-seller Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Survive – as well as hundreds of articles and essays, and many more academic papers. His influential newsletter "Crypto-Gram," and his blog "Schneier on Security," are read by over 250,000 people. He has testified before Congress, is a frequent guest on television and radio, served on several government technical committees, and is regularly quoted in the press.

Chris Riley, Senior Policy Engineer, Mozilla

M. Chris Riley is a Senior Policy Engineer at Mozilla, working to advance the open Internet and Web through public policy analysis and advocacy, strategic planning, coalition building, and community engagement. Prior to joining Mozilla, Chris worked as a program manager at the U.S. Department of State on Internet freedom, a policy counsel with the non-profit public interest organization Free Press, and an attorney-advisor at the Federal Communications Commission. Chris holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. He has published scholarship on topics including innovation policy, cognitive framing, graph drawing, and distributed load balancing.

This panel is organized by Dr. Susan Aaronson and Kyle Renner of IIEP and David Vyorst of the Greater Washington DC Chapter of the Internet Society and is part of a larger seminar series. We are grateful to an anonymous donor for their support of these seminars.


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BITAG Announces Technical Review Focused on Prioritization and Differentiated Treatment of Internet Traffic

BITAG Announces Technical Review Focused on 

Prioritization and Differentiated Treatment of Internet Traffic

Technical report will explore the technical aspects and uses of prioritization and differentiation

Denver, CO (April 14, 2015):   The Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) is pleased to announce a technical review focused on the topic of prioritization and differentiated treatment of Internet traffic. This topic was submitted to BITAG’s technical working group by DISH, a founding member of BITAG. The review will result in a report with an anticipated publication date in August 2015. 

Differentiation of Internet network traffic on both wireline and wireless networks is a topic of continued interest among policymakers and the public alike. Significantly, the public discourse reflects a lack of clarity as to how traffic differentiation can be accomplished from both a technical perspective and as part of network management practices. To help inform the policy debate surrounding the technical aspects of prioritization and differentiation, BITAG’s technical working group will issue a report that describes the various methods and techniques used by network operators to differentiate Internet data traffic — as well as the impact these methods may have on different types of applications. The group will also explore the distinction between prioritized and differential treatment of traffic. Finally, the report will describe appropriate best practices as identified by the group.

Fred Baker, a Fellow at Cisco, and Ken Ko, Senior Staff Scientist at ADTRAN, will be the lead editors of the report on this topic. Douglas Sicker, Executive Director of BITAG, Chair of BITAG’s Technical Working Group, Department Head of Engineering and Public Policy and a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, will chair the review itself. 

This will be BITAG’s eighth technical review and report. BITAG’s previous reports have focused on: Internet interconnection; VoIP impairment, failure, and restrictions; Real-time network management of Internet congestion; Port blocking; SNMP DDOS attack mitigation; Large scale network address translation; and IPv6 whitelisting. Copies of these technical reports can be on the BITAG website at www.bitag.org. 

Microsoft withdraws Skype petition

PETITION OF SKYPE COMMUNICATIONS S.A.R.L. TO CONFIRM A CONSUMER'S RIGHT TO USE INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE AND ATTACH DEVICES TO WIRELESS NETWORKS.   Granted the request for withdrawal filed by Microsoft. Dismissed Skype's Petition for rulemaking without prejudice and terminated the docket for this proceeding. (Dkt No.  RM-11361 ). Action by:  Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Adopted:  04/16/2015 by ORDER. (DA No. 15-471).  WTB  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-471A1.docx
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-15-471A1.pdf