fcc

WASHINGTON--You may have heard that the Federal Communications Commission is plotting a Stanford University "do-over" of a recent public Net neutrality hearing, where Comcast paid people to stand in line. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

At a meeting with reporters at agency headquarters here, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday dismissed those reports, saying nothing is planned. He suggested that the rumors may have spread because he's making a solo trip to Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday to speak to a law school conference.

Similarly, a Stanford representative told CNET News.com that … Read more

Only the most passionate cell phone geeks know that the Federal Communications Commission holds a treasure trove of information on upcoming handsets. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency's online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig. And to save you the trouble, Crave has combed through the database for you. Here are a selection of filings from the past week on new and upcoming cell phones. Click through to read the full report.

Haier C6000 Kyocera K33B Motorola W270 … Read more

Speeches by FCC bigwigs usually are pretty boring. Most of the time they involve a lot of policy minutiae, grandiose plans to improve rural broadband access, or some hand-wringing over the amount of sex and violence on television. Even when the speech concerns something that has a lot of implications, like the ongoing 700MHz auction, you tend to zone out after the first few minutes.

But after an FCC chief leaves office, it can be a different story. Yesterday, the FCC chairman who served under President Clinton gave an interview to Telephony Online. In the interview, Reed Hundt talked about … Read more

Comcast hits the snooze button http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9879848-7.html

FCC may do-over Comcast Net Neutrality hearing due to presence of paid Comcastards http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/27/fcc-may-doover-comca.html

EU slaps Microsoft with $1.35 billion fine http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9880256-7.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7266629.stm http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080226-heavy-fine-looms-in-ongoing-microsofteu-tussle.html

Wikileaks gets legal help after domain name deletion http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9880958-38.html

Google disaster: Comscore reports awful January http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/2008/2/google_disaster__comscore_reports_awful_january

Apple planning iPhone SDK … Read more

Comcast got an earful from critics at Monday's FCC hearing on the campus of Harvard Law School, but did the cable company manage to shut out some unsympathetic folks? That would seem to be the case--Comcast acknowledges that it hired people off the street to stand in line for the meeting, ostensibly just to save places for its employees. But some, apparently, also stayed for the hearing to take up some of the precious few seats and, presumably, displace Comcast foes.

Read the details at Portfolio.com: "Grassroots Support? Or Astroturf?"

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Comcast has confessed to slowing down certain peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic, but is it being clear enough about what it's doing?

That's perhaps the key question that emerged by the end of a lengthy public forum convened by the Federal Communications Commission on Monday here at Harvard Law School.

While none of the FCC commissioners was willing to solidify an answer to that just yet, two MIT computer scientists on an afternoon panel accused the cable company of behaving badly on multiple levels.

Each drew on his experience with fundamental Internet standards-setting bodies. And each charged that … Read more

Update at 3:10 p.m. PST: CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Federal Communications Commission chief Kevin Martin on Monday targeted Comcast's contention that delaying peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic serves user interests, appearing to sympathize with the cable company's critics.

Through pointed questioning at a public hearing at Harvard Law School here, Martin, a Republican, seemed to be pushing a two-pronged agenda: Internet service providers like Comcast should be as transparent as possible about manipulating network traffic, and consumers should have the freedom to, in effect, get what they pay for.

But at the end of the event, which, all told, lasted … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--At an unusual public hearing held away from Washington, D.C., federal regulators and a key Democratic congressman on Monday said they're investigating the Comcast vs. BitTorrent dispute and are ready to take action against network management practices that disrupt Internet users' experiences.

The remarks came at the start of a public hearing here, where the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to hear throughout the day from corporate, academic, and public-interest group representatives about what constitutes "reasonable" network management by Internet service providers.

That definition is important because it will help the FCC decide whether … Read more

The most passionate cell phone geeks know that the Federal Communications Commission hosts a treasure trove of information on upcoming handsets. Since the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency's online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig though it. To save you the trouble, Crave has combed the database and created a selection of upcoming-handset filings from the past week. Click through the links to read the full reports.

Kyocera K33B LG VX8610 Nokia E51 Palm Centro 685 Samsung SCH-R210A Samsung SCH-R430 … Read more