33 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.

The Telecom Digest for Sep 8, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 153 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
Facebook users: Beware of autoplay data charges (Monty Solomon)
Cable companies want to unbundle broadcast TV, and broadcasters are angry(Monty Solomon)
Online Privacy: Maybe Not So Unreasonable, After All (Monty Solomon)

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Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2014 23:54:52 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Facebook users: Beware of autoplay data charges Message-ID: <p06240800d03187458cf0@[10.0.1.7]> Facebook users: Beware of autoplay data charges By BETH LISA GOODBAUM CBS NEWS September 5, 2014 Some Facebook users have discovered that a feature of the social media site may be responsible for racking up unexpected charges on their mobile phone bills. Simply perusing your News Feed on the Facebook mobile app on your phone can take a toll on data usage because the site's videos autoplay by default. Pause on a post with video, and it starts to play whether you clicked on it or not. However, Facebook says users can avoid that drain on their data consumption with just a few setting changes. The issue was first spotted by the U.K. consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com. Tracking a recent surge in hefty data charges, the site solicited feedback from its social media community to determine the root of the problem. "We've seen many complaints from people who have been stung with data bills after exceeding their monthly allowance and who believe it to be because of Facebook autoplaying videos," the site reported this week. In its data research, MoneySavingExpert.com's staff found that mobile users who logged into their Facebook on an internet browser did not activate the autoplay feature, only those who used the mobile app. Facebook confirmed to CBS News that the autoplay feature is enabled on both the mobile app and desktop -- but that it consumes "very little data" if people just scroll past videos. "Only if people stop to watch the video do they consume more data," a Facebook representative said. "We want to make sure that videos consume as little data as possible and that people can control what they play automatically." ... http://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-users-beware-of-autoplay-data-charges/
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 00:00:28 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Cable companies want to unbundle broadcast TV, and broadcasters are angry Message-ID: <p06240802d031888bd95d@[10.0.1.7]> Cable companies want to unbundle broadcast TV, and broadcasters are angry: à la carte pricing may not be a pipe dream, at least for local broadcast TV. by Jon Brodkin Sept 5 2014 Ars Technica A Congressional proposal to let cable and satellite customers choose which broadcast TV channels they pay for has led to a battle between small cable companies and broadcasters. While cable companies usually are opponents of mandates to sell channels individually instead of in bundles, in this case they are fighting for à la carte and against the broadcasters. The "Local Choice" proposal by US Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) affects local broadcast stations such as affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. Rest at: http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/09/cable-companies-want-to-unbundle-broadcast-tv-and-broadcasters-are-angry/ -or- http://goo.gl/KMkjcP
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2014 11:24:49 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Online Privacy: Maybe Not So Unreasonable, After All Message-ID: <A550453D-5ABE-4908-AD7C-7D23ED12F84B@roscom.com> Online Privacy: Maybe Not So Unreasonable, After All As our online personal information has become less and less personal, the privacy pendulum may now be ready to switch directions. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/rethinking-privacy-on-the-internet/

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