---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20171205013906.GA17204@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2017 20:39:06 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Fact check: Net-neutrality claims leave out key context By Tali Arbel Seeking to dispel "myths" about net neutrality, the Trump adminis- tration's telecom chief instead put out his own incomplete and misleading talking points when he suggested that internet providers had never influenced content available to their customers before neutrality rules took effect in 2015. Iffy claims have come from the other side of the debate, too, such as the notion that federal regulators had never stepped in to make those providers change their service plans. Although no such cases were brought, the Federal Communications Commission was possibly on track to do so when the new administration stopped the investigation. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/factcheck/ct-net-neutrality-fact-check-20171204-story.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171205014338.GA17265@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2017 20:43:38 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: AT&T wants you to forget that it blocked FaceTime over cellular in 2012 AT&T: Your Internet service won't change after FCC eliminates net neutrality rules. By Jon Brodkin AT&T's push to end net neutrality rules continued yesterday in a blog post that says the company has never blocked third-party applications and that it won't do so even after the rules are gone. Just one problem: the blog post fails to mention that AT&T blocked Apple's FaceTime video chat application on iPhones in 2012 and 2013. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/att-says-it-never-blocked-apps-fails-to-mention-how-it-blocked-facetime/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171205024557.GA18068@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2017 21:45:57 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon is moving slowly to exploit consumer data for ads because it doesn't want to freak people out By Mike Shields Verizon's plan to challenge the digital duopoly - Facebook and Google - in digital advertising is a slow mover, and that's on purpose, the company's outgoing media chief said on Wednesday. The wireless giant wants to be sure it does not alienate its subscribers, she said as it seeks to get them to opt-in to being tracked, said Marni Walden at Business Insider's IGNITION conference in New York. http://www.businessinsider.com/verizon-media-chief-walden-on-moving-slowly-to-exploit-consumer-data-2017-11 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171205015441.GA17337@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2017 20:54:41 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Qualcomm is trying to ban the iPhone X used by AT&T and T- Mobile by Jacob Kastrenakes Qualcomm and Apple's tit for tat legal battle continues yet again this week with a series of new filings from Qualcomm, one of which seeks to ban some iPhone X sales in the US. Three new lawsuits allege that Apple is infringing 16 Qualcomm patents with the iPhone 7, 8, and X, as well as their Plus models. Many of the patents cover technology that improves battery life, but others focus on additional smartphone tech. In one case, Qualcomm says Apple is relying on its patented technology to create the iPhone's Portrait Mode effect. https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/30/16720964/qualcomm-seeks-iphone-x-ban-in-us -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171205023436.GA17794@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2017 21:34:36 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: FCC Wants To Kill Net Neutrality. Congress Will Pay The Price Opinion by Ryan Singel FCC CHAIR AJIT Pai's plan to repeal net neutrality provisions and reclassify broadband providers from "common carriers" to "information services" is an unprecedented giveaway to big broadband providers and a danger to the internet. The move would mean the FCC would have almost no oversight authority over broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T. Even industry analysts who expected the reclassification of broadband providers from Title II common carriers to Title I information services were stunned. Following Pai's announcement, independent cable analyst Craig Moffett sent out an email to investors entitled "Shock and Awe and Net Neutrality," writing, "We've known since the election that the FCC would reverse Title II. But we never expected this. Yesterday's FCC Draft Order on Net Neutrality went much further than we ever could've imagined in not only reversing Title II, but in dismantling virtually all of the important tenets of net neutrality itself." https://www.wired.com/story/fcc-wants-to-kill-net-neutrality-congress-will-pay-the-price/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171206065458.GA23741@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2017 01:54:58 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: The Reason Ajit Pai's Keynote at Verizon in D.C. Today Is Secret Moderator's Note: This is a "guilty pleasure" post, and I'm a sucker for "secret" headlines. Pai's remarks are included in the article, which says it got them from the FCC website. ******************************** The Chatham House Rule will keep his comments secret. By Nick Lucchesi FCC Chairman Ajit Pai gave a 10 a.m. keynote address at Verizon Communications' Washington, D.C. headquarters on Tuesday, but because of an old British rule applied to the event by its organizer, the comments won't be made public, less than ten days before Pai will push for the removal of net neutrality consumer protections. The Chatham House Rule is "world famous" and reads as follows: "When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed." https://www.inverse.com/article/39044-ajit-pai-verizon-speech -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171206070045.GA23805@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2017 02:00:45 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Why Concerns About Net Neutrality Are Overblown By Ken Engelhart TORONTO - The Federal Communications Commission is planning to jettison its network neutrality rules, and many Americans are distraught. Such a move, the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned, "invites a future where only the largest internet, cable and telephone companies survive, while every start-up, small business and new innovator is crowded out - and the voices of nonprofits and ordinary individuals are suppressed." Critics worry that getting rid of neutrality regulation will lead to a "two-tier" internet: Internet service providers will start charging fees to websites and apps, and slow down or block the sites that don't pay up. As a result, users will have unfettered access to only part of the internet, with the rest either inaccessible or slow. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/opinion/net-neutrality-overblown-concerns.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171206072046.GA24013@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2017 02:20:46 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: AT&T: Everyone Is Ignoring This, And It Is A Critical Mistake By Quad 7 Capital Research We have learned that Ohio has joined Vermont to become the two latest states to join AT&T's First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) initiative. The FirstNet initiative occasionally makes a news item, but AT&T investors are largely ignoring this project - and it is a critical mistake, from our viewpoint. In this article, we discuss which states have opted in, as well as those that may be opting out. We provide insight into and the implications for AT&T longer term for being selected over the competition for this unprecedented network. Further, we discuss why Verizon (NYSE:VZ) is making every effort to pick up business in the public safety space. We believe FirstNet is a vastly underappreciated and under-covered reason to stay in AT&T long term. What is FirstNet? With all of the glitz and glamour associated with AT&T's volatile trading lately, investors have no doubt focused on the race to 5G technology, competitive pressures facing consumer wireless revenues, and the drama associated with the Time Warner merger, which may or may not even help AT&T. However, every few days we see that another state has opted into the so-called "FirstNet." So, what is it? https://seekingalpha.com/article/4129894-t-everyone-ignoring-critical-mistake -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20171206071015.GA23901@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2017 02:10:15 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: An Open Letter to the FCC By Eric Schneiderman, New York State Attorney General Dear FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: As you recently announced, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under your leadership, soon will release rules to dismantle your agency's existing "net neutrality" protections under Title II of the Communications Act, which shield the public from anti-consumer behaviors of the giant cable companies that provide high-speed internet to most people. In today's digital age, the rules that govern the operation and delivery of internet service to hundreds of millions of Americans are critical to the economic and social well-being of the nation. Yet the process the FCC has employed to consider potentially sweeping alterations to current net neutrality rules has been corrupted by the fraudulent use of Americans' identities - and the FCC has been unwilling to assist my office in our efforts to investigate this unlawful activity. Specifically, for six months my office has been investigating who perpetrated a massive scheme to corrupt the FCC's notice and comment process through the misuse of enormous numbers of real New Yorkers' and other Americans' identities. Such conduct likely violates state law - yet the FCC has refused multiple requests for crucial evidence in its sole possession that is vital to permit that law enforcement investigation to proceed. https://medium.com/@AGSchneiderman/an-open-letter-to-the-fcc-b867a763850a -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Wed, 06 Dec 2017