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The Telecom Digest for Fri, 27 Aug 2021
Volume 40 : Issue 239 : "text" format

table of contents
Zoom agrees to $85M settlement in litigation over privacy and 'Zoombombings'
AT&T, Wireless Industry Hostile to Sharing Spectrum: It Belongs to Us or Forget It
California's 'Open Access' Fiber Broadband Plan Is Making Telecom Giants Like AT&T Nervous

Message-ID: <20210826010338.982A173C@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2021 01:03:38 +0000 (UTC) From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Zoom agrees to $85M settlement in litigation over privacy and 'Zoombombings' BY Debra Cassens Weiss Zoom Video Communications has agreed to pay $85 million to settle nationwide litigation alleging misrepresentations and broken promises regarding customers' security and privacy. The litigation alleges that Zoom shared users' information through third-party integration with social media companies such as Facebook. It also claims that Zoom violated security promises related to "Zoombombings" by hackers who disrupted meetings. https://tinyurl.com/3n7k9u2s
Message-ID: <20210826022231.CB94073C@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2021 02:22:31 +0000 (UTC) From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: AT&T, Wireless Industry Hostile to Sharing Spectrum: It Belongs to Us or Forget It The President's Council of Advisors on Policy and Technology's recommendation that the growing demand for wireless spectrum be met by sharing frequencies with the federal government is getting a cold reception from the wireless industry. AT&T, other wireless operators, and their lobbying trade association have been embarked on a fierce campaign in Washington to free up additional spectrum they can use to meet growing demands for wireless data. Unfortunately, clearing spectrum that can be re-purposed for wireless phone companies requires complicated, and often expensive frequency reassignments as existing users relocate elsewhere. With the federal government holding a large swath of spectrum for the use of a range of public safety, research, and military applications, the best source for new frequencies comes from Washington. PCAST's final 200-page report urges the Commerce Department prioritize locating 1000MHz of frequencies that could be re-purposed for private wireless communications. But the council also recommended that frequencies could be more quickly made available by asking wireless telecom companies to share them with existing users. https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/7021992184.pdf
Message-ID: <20210826132521.C6FB6730@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2021 13:25:21 +0000 (UTC) From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: California's 'Open Access' Fiber Broadband Plan Is Making Telecom Giants Like AT&T Nervous from the do-not-pass-go,-do-not-collect-$200 dept By Karl Bode Back in 2009, the FCC funded a Harvard study that concluded that open access broadband networks (letting multiple ISPs come in and compete over a central, core network) resulted in lower broadband prices and better service in numerous locations worldwide. Of course when the Obama FCC released its "National Broadband Plan" back in 2010, this realization (not to mention an honest accounting of the sector's limited competition) was nowhere to be found. Both parties ignored the data and instead doubled down on our existing national telecom policy plan: letting AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast do pretty much whatever they'd like. Something, of course, taken to ridiculous new heights during the Trump era. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210824/07565547420/californias-open-access-fiber-broadband-plan-is-making-telecom-giants-like-att-nervous.shtml

End of telecom Digest Fri, 27 Aug 2021

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