Gizmodo
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the internet
CompuServe Classic Finally Laid To Rest
Have you noticed anything different about your inbox this week? Where are all the weirdly threatening chain letters from family members you've never met? The hyperventilating urgent FWD: FWD: FWD: messages about Barack Obama's secret Hellenic Polytheism? Your tri-weekly update on the power of prayer, told through the perspective of your fourth cousin's cat? They are gone, is where, stemmed at the source. CompuServe Classic is dead. More »
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By John HerrmanComment by Bokusatsu_Tenshi: Yep, I feel like a dinossaur... because I do remember CompuServe, AOL CDs, and I still remember downloading MODs (Axel... 14 Responses | Other threads
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broadband
Congress Readies Bill to Bring an End to ISP Data Caps6
Eric Massa, a Congressman in western New York, has readied a bill that would force ISPs to justify economic need for data caps and volume-based usage fees. This would effectively bringing those practices to an end (for the time being). More »
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Comment by admoseremic: While I agree with what this bill is trying to do, I find the idea of additional government involvement in... 33 Responses | Other threads
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question of the day
Would You Rather Have an HTPC or a Set-Top Box?
Yesterday I purchased a Home Theater PC to supplement my existing DirectTV hardware—although I hope to ditch cable TV/satellite providers all together sometime in the future. What I'm interested in knowing is what kind of setup you guys prefer. More » -
fios
Second-Tier FiOS Providers Undercut Verizon, Are Verizon
Verizon FiOS, which can pipe the internet into your home at 50mbps, is something like bliss. It's also hideously expensive. Luckily, smaller ISPs are offering the same service for less. The exact same service. More »
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By John HerrmanComment by snitch: $100 for 50Mbps are they nuts? Cablevision has a plan in my area called Optimum Ultra that gives you 101Mbps... 6 Responses | Other threads
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cable
Cable Industry Starting To Realize That They Need To Let Go Of the Box
An interesting article published on the CableFax industry webpage argues that vendors and suppliers need to loosen their grip on the set-top box in order to keep up with our increasingly open source culture. More » -
isps
Time Warner Cable Putting Superfast DOCSIS 3.0 Internet On Hold Because We Don't Like Bandwidth Caps
It looks like the folks at TWC are bad losers. They are now considering dropping the planned rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 high speed citing that it was part of their plan for consumption based billing. More »
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By Sean FallonComment by htifun: i am willing to pay more money for docsis 3.0 speeds, so long as it is not tied to CBB.... 7 Responses | Other threads
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isps
Outrage Prompts Time Warner To Drop Tiered Pricing Until We Can Be Educated
Score one for the consumer—Time Warner Cable has decided to temporarily shelve their tiered pricing plan in response to . More »
11,642
By Sean FallonComment by Darrone: "You don't understand." "You want to charge us more..." "Ok, so you do understand. Now, we're just going to wait till you... 6 Responses | Other threads
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net neuterality
Your ISP Hates You: They're Probably Working With RIAA
Remember how the RIAA was getting ISPs to help battle copyright infringers after they gave up lawsuits, and AT&T was all "no comment"? Now AT&T confirms they're working with the RIAA. UPDATED. More »
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Comment by KeepingTheForeName_GitEmSteveDave: ::Taps his external drive twice encrypted which may or may not have downloaded content on it:: 15 Responses | Other threads
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comcast
Comcast's Internet Slowdown System Fully Armed and Operational (and Avoidable)
Comcast's bandwidth throttling system that slows you down for using too much bandwidth is now fully armed and operational in all markets. Here's how it works, and how to not get stuck on the short bus. More » -
not being evil
Google Wants to Install Servers at ISPs, Not So Sure About That 'Net Neutrality' Thing After All
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google has has approached ISPs with a plan to install servers within their networks, providing a "fast lane" for the famous supporters of net neutrality Updated 1:30p EST
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By John HerrmanComment by t3knomanser: Um... because installing nodes at the edge of a network has nothing to do with Net Neutrality? This is one of... 7 Responses | Other threads
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decapitation
Surgical Strike Eliminates 75% of Spam Email Worldwide With Single ISP Shutdown
An office tower in downtown San Jose, California has long served as home to McColo—a hosting company whose servers in turn have quietly served as a conduit to a huge majority of the world's spam email, scam prescription drug markets and child porn sites. After investigations by the Washington Post's Security Fix blog identified McColo as supreme baddies and shut them down, web security firms saw spam volumes drop almost instantly by up to 75%. More »
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By John MahoneyComment by geiko: I think I speak for most when I say "god damn!" 21 Responses | Other threads
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anti-piracy laws
France To Slap Convicted Pirates with Year-Long Internet Ban
France's Senate just passed a law proposed in mid-summer that would cut the families of illegal fileswappers off from broadband internet access for a year. This makes France the first country to pop anti-piracy legislation against users, and it's probably not going to be the last. More »
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Comment by Toastie: Oh yeah, you're not unnecessarily trampling on people's right to the Internet at all. This is like cutting off a... 8 Responses | Other threads
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p2p
Almost Half of Net Traffic Is Not-So-Legal P2P (And It'll Really Take Off Soon)
A market research firm called MultiMedia Intelligence—who I admittedly had never heard of—offers up some astounding numbers onporn swappingP2P traffic: 33.6% of North American net activity is P2P, almost all of it illegal. Huge, right? But worldwide, the number is even higher, at 44%. So almost half of the world's net activity is the illegal swapping of movies and music? Mercifully for studios and record labels, the report holds some good-ish news about the future, but it's still a bag o' trouble for the ISPs. More »
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Comment by SewerShark: Sometimes you don't know if the movie worth the money you pay for it. Even more these days that any... 11 Responses | Other threads
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copyright protection
Hollywood Teams with AT&T and Others In Possible Packet-Filtering Coalition
Some of you P2P fans may want to know about a new coalition called Arts + Labs. It may sound like some kind of open-source hippie think tank, but it's actually a powerful alignment of film and music copyright owners (NBC Universal, Viacom and the Songwriters Guild of America) and tech firms and ISPs (Microsoft, Cisco Systems and AT&T). It's a group that could put together a pretty serious anti-piracy system without much trouble. Saul Hansell at the NY Times says the group claims that "network operators must have the flexibility to manage and expand their networks to defend against net pollution and illegal file trafficking which threatens to congest and delay the network for all consumers.” Hansell interprets this as a call to filter packets, and put the kibosh on any dubious transfers. More »
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Comment by Quatre707: Anyone who understands the very basic fundamentals of computer networking knows it is impossible to stop P2P file sharing. If perhaps... 2 Responses | Other threads
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drm
Industry Leaders Developing "Buy Once, Play Anywhere" Standard For Digital Media
Many of the big guns in Hollywood, technology and retailing have joined forces to create the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC—a consortium focused on building "a new digital media framework using industry standards" that will "enable consumers to acquire and play content across a wide range of services and devices." In a nutshell, the DECE hopes to create a system where users can download content, playback that content on compliant branded products and possibly store that media in a "virtual library" to be accessed at home or on the road. Unfortunately, I see a few problems with all of this. More » -
cellphones
Cox Communications Getting Into The Wireless Business
Cox communications, one of the top three cable companies in the US, is planning on making a foray into the wireless business with an offering that integrates all of their services into one device. Cox president Patrick Esser explained saying: "I won't divulge too many secrets here, but we'll focus on providing simple calling plans, integrating all our services into one device with a consistent cross-platform interface; and making our content and applications mobile." More » -
net neutrality
Giz Explains: How Broadband Usage Caps Will Kill Internet Video
NBC's scheduled coverage of the 2008 Olympics is absolutely breathtaking in its scope: It's broadcasting over 3,600 hours of the world's greatest athletes performing feats that reveal how shapeless and amoebic the rest of humanity is—that's 1,000 more hours than the last 12 Summer Olympics combined. The internet is a huge component of their nearly omniscient coverage. You can even download and watch full-length events. But NBC has a fat red warning on the page: If you've got metered or capped broadband, you might want to think twice before downloading. It's the first shot by major media in the next great battle for the internet's future. Here's why you—and most media companies—should be worried about the new wave of internet pricing.
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the verdict is in
FCC Orders Comcast to Stop P2P Blocking
It comes as no surprise, but the FCC has officially ruled on the issue of Comcast P2P blocking and determined in a 3-2 vote that the company must stop blocking web access and fully disclose its traffic management practices to subscribers—but it will not be fined for its actions. It is only a small victory though—as we have already stated, this ruling does not prevent data caps from being implemented by ISPs and there is no guarantee that the ruling will hold up in court. Chances are the FCC does not legally have the authority to regulate ISPs in the first place. [Bloomberg] -
comcast
WSJ: FCC to Rule Against Comcast on P2P Blockage (But We're Still Screwed)
Confirming what's been hinted at by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin since like the dawn of time, the WSJ is reporting that the FCC is going to rule on Friday that Comcast violated federal policy by by stalling BitTorrent connections. From there, it gets ugly. More »
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Comment by mightybob: @entropyman: rogers gives you a pop up in your web browser (works in fire fox and ever opera< probibly has something... more » | Other threads
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on the ball
It Took Comcast 20 Calls and 3 Visits Over 5 Weeks to Determine That No Cable Was Run to This Guy's House
I know—Comcast bashing is getting way too easy these days. But its hard to resist when you find out that it took 20 calls and 3 personal visits over five weeks for the company to figure out why Kenneth Bayes, a subscriber in Haymarket VA, could not get service. Then it hit them—they never ran cable to the guy's house. It is just the kind of customer service debacle that Comcast has been blaming on their rapid growth. According to Rick Germano, senior vice president of customer operations, "We are a victim of our own success, to a degree." More »
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By Sean FallonComment by PenaltyBoxPV: I just posted some ideas to Comcast on how to improve their services on this IdeaScale board. I just learned... more » | Other threads
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comcast
FCC Ready To Slam Comcast For P2P Filtering
It looks as though Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is ready to lay the hammer down on Comcast regarding their wanton BitTorrent blocking. As was evident in the recent net neutrality hearing, Martin is hellbent on protecting consumers by establishing rules for transparency within ISPs. In an interview with AP, Martin noted that "The commission has adopted a set of principles that protect consumers' access to the internet, and we found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles." He went on to say that they "arbitrarily" blocked internet access and failed to disclose this to customers. More »
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By Sean FallonComment by MikeTy: I was reading about the download cap Comcast is supposedly going to impose of around 250GB/Month. In the article, [www.internetevolution.com]... more » | Other threads
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aol
AOL Raises Dial-up Prices For Luddites
Going through our logs we can tell that nearly a dozen of you are still using AOL via dial-up. For lots of people in remote locales it's their only choice, and starting at the end of the month their bills are going to be going up a whopping $2 a month from $9.99 to $11.99. That's about 20%, but they don't have to pay it; AOL is offering users the chance to keep their $9.99 plans if they pinky swear to not call technical support if its not a connection-related issue. How exactly does this work? More »
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By Matt HickeyComment by StarChaser Tyger: @SgtMac02: There was a reference tool called Merlin that would identify callers, the screen names on the accounts, the address... more » | Other threads
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bandwidth
Japanese ISP Institutes Upload Cap of 30GB… Per Day
While everyone is up in arms about US ISPs such as Comcast instituting bandwidth caps that'll keep you from downloading all the sweet, sweet data that you want, what about telcos in Japan? Well, they're going to start instituting caps as well. Oh, the horror? What is it, 25GB a month? 50GB? No, actually. NTT Communications is going to start instituting an upload cap of 30GB… per day. I'm pretty sure if I was uploading at max speed at all times I couldn't hit 30GB a day. More »
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By Adam FrucciComment by IVPPITER: "I'm pretty sure if I was uploading at max speed at all times I couldn't hit 30GB a day." yeah cuz... more » | Other threads
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at&t
Welcome to the Future of Broadband: Third Major ISP AT&T Testing Bandwidth Caps in the Fall
AT&T chief tech officer John Donovan has told Wired that they're going to test bandwidth caps in the fall, making them the third of the four major ISPs to do so. (Verizon stands alone, but for how long?) He lays out the familiar rationale, a small group of users (5 percent) pillage the network (40 percent) and they've got to stop them. But then he slips what's probably the real reason they've moving to caps: "Traffic on our backbone is growing 60 percent per year, but our revenue is not." More »
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Comment by Justifan: good site. [stopthecap.com] these companies have got to stop with this nonsense. they are holding back the us in technology and... more » | Other threads
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isps
Are You Getting Screwed? Quick-Glance ISP Pricing Chart
Electronic House has done some serious homework, compiling price, bandwidth and plan information from most US ISPs, from sluggy dial-up to hyperspeedy fiber. (I couldn't spot Cablevision, but there were others I hadn't even heard of.) Due to cable build-out and the territorial nature of phone companies, you can't do as much comparison shopping as the charts would suggest. And man, wouldn't I love it if it were a sortable database where I could see all my options by region? Wishlist aside, though, it's a very helpful resource for, say, figuring out if you're getting screwed by an older monthly rate. I, myself, will be making a customer-service call shortly. [EH]
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Comment by greasypigarvin: Don't forget to haggle! We've currently got comcast basic (the 44.95 kind), digital cable with HBO, AND an HD-DVR for... more » | Other threads
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internet
Charter to Sell Your Browsing History for Targeted Ads
It's one thing when Google uses your search for boobs to deliver targeted ads for plastic surgeons in your area. It's another when your ISP uses deep-packet inspection to snoop on which sites you visit and for how long, and then essentially sells that data to advertisers for super-targeted. That's exactly what Charter is about to do, calling it an "enhanced online experience." Naturally, the program is opt-out, not opt-in, so you've gotta take the initiative to hang on to one last shred of privacy. And no, they're not passing on the money they're making off your browsing habits in the form of discounts. Oh, this better not migrate to other ISPs like pay-per-byte billing. [DSL Reports via Consumerist Photo via Getty]
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Comment by wiggin: Adblock eh? So you're all good and fine with the fact that there is a database that identifies YOUR computer as... more » | Other threads
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speculation
FCC to Force ISPs to Reveal P2P Blockage and Real World Bandwidth Speeds
Last night, the FCC held its Comcast-less do-over hearing on net neutrality. While the FCC doesn't appear to be super gung-ho on government-enforced net neutrality, the smoke signals indicate that they're leaning toward forcing ISPs to be completely transparent about their network practices, telling you whether they block BitTorrent and how fast your connection is in real-world conditions, not fantasy-land speeds that only spike when the planets align. More »
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Comment by shalegac: I F'n hate comcast. Even downloading legal P2P files with a million seeder I only pull max 40 bytes per/second... more » | Other threads
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comcast
Comcast Wants a P2P Bill of Rights: Should You Be Excited or Afraid?
Comcast officially loves P2P as much as George Washington loves freedom. It's calling for an industry-wide P2P bill of rights and responsibilities that would cover ISPs and users and "clarify what choices and controls consumers should have...as well as what processes and practices ISPs should use to manage P2P applications." Furthermore, as they stated earlier, Comcast is pushing for protocol agnostic management, more bandwidth and more transparency. Sounds groovy, but here's why we don't think they're doing this just to make your 30 Rock torrent experience a silky smooth ride.
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orwellian gobbledygook
Tomorrow FBI Will Be Jacked Into Everyone's Internets
Tomorrow is the deadline for ISPs to have their networks wired up with G-Man-mandated surveillance equipment that will make it easier for the FBI to snoop, spy and wiretap the Intertubes, per the FCC's expanded 2002 interpretation of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. (Clearly an older law, since it does not make for a catchy acronym.) More »
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Comment by Oneon1isto: @wetworker I'm not even going to bother responding to tired comparison of our current situation and that of Rome's. Sounds... more » | Other threads
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home entertainment
EFF Responds to RIAA's New ISP Bully Tactics
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, has responded to the RIAA's new method of extorting money from people, and, surprise surprise, they don't like it. They take issue not only with the fact that this whole operation is designed to circumvent the law, but also that the RIAA is asking ISPs to keep track of IP records of potential pirates.EFF and others have long warned that copyright claims could become an altar on which personal privacy is sacrificed. Now the RIAA wants your ISP to voluntarily wield the knife, and there's no telling what else the RIAA might ask for once this cut has been made.
It is indeed a slippery slope, one that we really don't want to be sliding down. The notion of a non-governmental agency having the power to strong-arm its way into your personal internet surfing history is scary, especially when you aren't even notified that it's happening. This could open the door to huge abuses of privacy, turning our private web use into a goldmine not only for greedy sleazebuckets like the RIAA but also greedy sleazebucket marketer researchers and advertisers. More »
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1-30 of 30 for "ISPs"
