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| Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 12:07:51 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Net Fix: Why FCC's Wheeler is 'defying the greatest lobbyists in the world'
Message-ID: <52d8b18b-e63b-4bcf-bebf-d9e7e1f51eeb@googlegroups.com>
By Marguerite Reardon, CNET, February 2, 2015
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is at the center of a historic debate over how we'll
all use the Internet. Fans applaud a consumer-friendly approach. Critics say
he'll strangle innovation. Both sides agree he's not afraid to do what he
thinks is right.
Tom Wheeler has made a career out of surprising people.
The 68-year-old chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is commonly
called out as a former top lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry, a
role he served for a quarter of century. Few remember his long career as an
entrepreneur. Even fewer know it was one of his startups that informed his
view of the Internet -- before the World Wide Web was even invented -- that's
now driving his approach to Internet regulation lobbyists in the world -- from
the telco and cable industry -- to secure an open and fast Internet for all
Americans."
http://www.cnet.com/news/why-fccs-wheeler-is-defying-the-greatest-lobbyists-in-the-world/?tag=nl.e404&s_cid=e404&ttag=e404&ftag=CAD1acfa04
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/onprtz4
Neal McLain
|
| Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 14:27:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: FCC to draft proposal to overturn anti-municipal broadband
Message-ID: <dc7de0bc-00c3-453e-92ae-7a1c5cf8df63@googlegroups.com>
FCC to draft proposal to overturn anti-municipal broadband laws in Tennessee,
North Carolina
By Sean Buckley, FierceCable, February 2, 2015
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is gearing up for a battle with state legislators in
Tennessee and North Carolina with plans to circulate a draft decision to
overturn anti-municipal broadband laws in both states, reports The Washington
Post, citing a senior agency official.
Wheeler could provide a copy of a draft of his proposal to other FCC
commissioners possibly today and then vote on the issue at its public meeting
on Feb. 26.
...
If the commission votes to approve the issue, the FCC would overturn state
laws that have inhibited municipal providers like EPB in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
and other providers in Wilson, N.C., from either building their own networks
or expanding their reach to compete with incumbent telcos and cable operators
like Verizon and Comcast.
http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/fcc-draft-proposal-overturn-anti-municipal-broadband-laws-tennessee-north-c/2015-02-02?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/o5424xf
Back in my cable TV days, this same issue occasionally came up. Many cities
owned and operated their own cable TV systems presumably in competition with
commercial cable companies. But, at least in most of the cases I'm familiar
with, the city built its own system because no commercial company was
interested. This seemed to be particularly common in Minnesota -- examples
that come to mind are Elbow Lake, Jackson, Pipestone, Windom, and
Worthington.
These cities also owned and operated their own electric power utilities,
including the poles that supported the distribution networks. A city-owned
cable TV network using the same poles would not have to pay pole-attachment
fees, thus giving it a significant price advantage vis-a-vis a commercial
cable company.
Back in the 1990s I did some consulting work for the Jackson system. I wrote
about it last year in a T-D post:
http://tinyurl.com/JoSj11hqBLcJ
The FierceCable article mentions that "Minnesota's HF 2695 explicitly bars any
community from building a broadband network to serve their needs." Presumably
this law would prevent the City of Jackson from building its own fiber
network.
FCC Chairman Wheeler seems to have changed his mind about such laws since he
was president of the NCTA. Even though I'm a former employee of some big-name
cable TV companies (Comcast, Warner, TCI), I must agree with Wheeler.
Neal McLain
|
| Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 12:17:51 -0800 (PST)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Removing Barriers to Competitive Community Broadband
Message-ID: <a80c8d01-8ca7-468a-aa3c-dd2275311dd2@googlegroups.com>
By Tom Wheeler, FCC Chairman, CED, June 10, 2014
If any city understands the power of networks to drive economic growth, it's
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Chattanooga's proximity to the Tennessee River - a natural network - fueled
its initial growth. When the railroad network arrived in the mid-19th century,
Chattanooga became a boom town. The railroad allowed raw material to flow into
the area and finished products to flow out to markets around the country -
making Chattanooga an industrial powerhouse.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke,
and when it comes to networks driving economic growth in Chattanooga, past is
prologue.
Mayor Berke and the city's leaders recognized that today's high-speed
broadband networks will be the indispensable platform for tomorrow's economic
growth and the jobs of the future. That's why Chattanooga invested in building
out one of the nation's most robust community broadband networks.
The network was partly built out of necessity. Local phone and cable companies
chose to delay improvements in broadband service to the Chattanooga area
market. Without faster networks, Chattanooga residents were at risk of finding
themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide, bypassed by the
opportunities high-speed connectivity enables.
http://www.fcc.gov/blog/removing-barriers-competitive-community-broadband
Neal McLain
|
| Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 23:25:45 -0500
From: Telecom Digest Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom.csail.mit.edu>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Security problem at Whitehouse website
Message-ID: <20150203042545.GA26009@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
If anyone of my readers knows anyone at the White House Communications
Agency, please tell them that either the white house web site has a
configuration problem, or someone is diverting SSL requests to a
man-in-the-middle attacker. I assume the former, but it's a PR problem
at the very least, especially after the "Obamacare" sign-up fiasco.
I've confirmed this with several different machines, different
Operating Systems, and multiple locations. It's a real problem, and
has been going on for at least fourteen hours.
The site is at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/.
--
Bill Horne
Moderator
|
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