Displaying items by tag: ISP

The “debate” over net neutrality has gotten a little heated between two players in the struggle. These two players are Netflix and Verizon and has reached the lawsuit threatening stage. The story goes like this: Netflix decided to change the message they present to customers when there movie streaming needs to adjust. Instead of the usual “we are adjusting the quality” message that was previously used the video streaming company decided to drop in messages that specifically call out the ISPs that they are running over. In the case of Verizon the message stated “The Verizon Network is crowded right now”.

Published in News
Wednesday, 12 March 2014 13:39

Is It Time for an Internet Bill of Rights?

We talk a lot about privacy, net neutrality, digital right and other topics that have become more and more important over the last few years. As the internet becomes the defacto way we communicate these items HAVE to be addressed or we end up in a situation where the rights of people using these services simply do not exist. For years the average consumer’s information has been treated like a commodity that can be traded, sold or used in any manner the holding company sees fit. This type of behavior, while currently legal, is simply unacceptable as are the myriad of other abuses of our digital communications. These many abuses all beg the question, why do we not have the same rights in the digital world that we have in the real world?

Published in Editorials
Tuesday, 03 December 2013 19:48

Irish ISPs to ban Kickass Torrents

Irish subsidiary of Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music have called the local ISPs to start blocking service Kickass Torrents. At the same time they launched a legal action against this service in the Irish High Court.

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After the public release of the NSA’s PRISM program we are hearing that they have an open account with at least one cell service provider. The provider that we know about so far is Verizon and the NSA has quite the hold on them. It seems that Verizon must hand over the metadata for all calls made inside the US as well as calls that are to destinations outside the US. This type of wholesale spying is being granted under section 215 of the Patriot Act. These requests have to be processed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court with DoJ oversight to prevent abuse. At least that is how the system is supposed to work.

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AOL, once a leading global provider of Internet services reported the first quarterly revenue growth in eight years. In the fourth quarter of last year the company operated with $600 million in revenue, compared with $576 million in the same period a year earlier. This is significantly better than the estimates of analysts who had expected revenue of $573 million. Operating profit also rose by 24%, from 54.8 to 68.2 million.

Published in News
Thursday, 08 November 2012 15:33

Should we be more concerned about privacy now?

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The election is over and nothing much has changed as far as the balance of power in the US, which makes us wonder if we should be concerned about a free and open internet more than ever. We know that the head of the MPAA Chris Dodd has close ties to the Whitehouse and also to many members of Congress. To make things worse Dodd will be free to openly interact with all of his former buddies sometime in February of 2013. We know that he has, and still is, pushing for laws to monitor and control the internet to protect the interests of the other members of his cartel. However, there is more to this dynamic than we first saw last year during the barrage of ignorant and oppressive laws trying to limit communication (and technological advances) and it has to do with a particular mindset.

Published in News
Saturday, 04 August 2012 18:50

Google Fiber Starting Strong

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Only one week was needed for Google Fiber to take off in Kansas City (Kansas and Missouri).  46 designated „fiberhoods“ were qualified for the service as it was reported on the Google Fiber site. A week ago Google's fiber-to-the-home network was announced offering speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second along with TV service. They started the project in neighborhoods that showed the most interest based on pre-registration for the service (and a US$10 fee).

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As we reported when they first went into effect the UK and Netherlands’ bans on the Pirate Bay are doing very little to stem the flow of traffic to the popular file sharing search engine. According to a report by the BBC (which cites data from ISPs) the peer to peer traffic is back to around normal about seven days after the event took place. Now, what is interesting here is that The Pirate Bay has very little to do with peer to peer traffic (although it can be argued that Torrents and Magnets are Peer to Peer). It is a small, but vital distinction that the industry seems to forget all the time. Still the entertainment industry in both the UK and the Netherlands still has the wrong idea in mind when they try to view the Pirate Bay as the root of all file sharing.

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ipv6_logoInternet Protocol Version 6 (IPV6) has officially launched in certain areas of the globe. The replacement for the aging Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPV4) is said to have built in security, Encryption capabilities and a ridiculous number of address combinations making it sustainable for a very long time. The downside is that, as with many core technology updates, there are not many products that use it and the average home user is facing a pretty steep learning curve in getting things going.

Published in Editorials

animal_farm-pigsWe have always been a strong supporter of net neutrality and in general keeping the internet open as a communication and cultural tool. There are many, many people and organization that do not support this and still more that only pay it lip service. We have found what we can only call hypocritical in one of the more open countries out there; the Netherlands. At the same time they have passed a law on Net Neutrality, they have also ordered ISPs to block The Pirate Bay.

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