With News Corp. sitting on top of major social networking sites, it’s only a matter of time before this phenomenon becomes videonetworking. But for now, Friendster is doing its part to ratchet up the utility of social networking.
The company has added video and file-sharing features by virtue of its partnership with start-up Grouper Networks, which uses peer-to-peer technology to swap the content among users.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 5:39 PM | Print | Comments (0)
Less than a month after being chosen to build and operate a 135-square-mile citywide Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia, Earthlink has secured a second municipal Wi-Fi contract, this time in Anaheim, CA, the home of Disneyland and a major convention center.
According to an Earthlink press release announcing the Anaheim contract, the ISP “will deploy Tropos Networks’ MetroMesh Wi-Fi routers on light poles throughout the city.” In phase one, it will construct a two-square-mile proof-of-concept area for testing and analysis, with the remainder of the Anaheim network to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2006. A similar two-phase approach is planned for the Philadelphia network, which Earthlink also plans to have fully operational by 4Q06.
Earthlink’s press release announcing the Philadelphia contract said the ISP would finance the project without any city or taxpayer dollars, and would provide a portion of revenues to support the Wireless Philadelphia Non-Profit Corporation. Earthlink also said it “anticipates retail rates to be approximately $20.00 per month” and a “digital inclusion” program that will offer qualifying low-income residents discounted access at rates of $10/mo.
Earthlink, which has struggled to secure wholesale access to cable and telco broadband networks on terms it finds economically attractive, has said that, in both cities, its network will provide “open access for multiple, competing service providers.” It will be interesting to see what kind of terms it actually ends up offering to competing ISPs and if any of them take Earthlink up on its offer.
Posted by Mitch Shapiro at 2:07 PM | Print | Comments (0)
In what no doubt will be a boost to the telcos’ state and federal efforts to get rid of local cable franchising requirements, the Wall Street Journal has a colorful article today about the franchising difficulties faced by Verizon as it builds out its Fios network.
Teams of Verizon’s lawyers are engaged in the excrutiating and expensive process of persuading local governments to let the telco offering video services.
Budget-strapped local officials, who have the final say over granting cable-TV-service franchises, are greeting the phone giant with expensive and detailed demands. In New York state, Verizon faces requests for seed money for wildflowers and a video hookup for Christmas celebrations. Arlington County, Va., wants fiber strung to all its traffic lights so it can remotely monitor traffic flow. Holliston, Mass., is seeking free television for every house of worship and a 10% video discount for all senior citizens. Others want high-speed Internet for sewage facilities and junk yards, flower baskets for light poles, cameras mounted on stop lights and Internet connections for poor elementary students.Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:17 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Well, there’s not much there yet, but Denny Hastert (R-IL) has started a blog, if you could call it that. Communications flow in only one direction — the site has no room for comments or feedback.
The internet is changing the way we share information. My office has been talking a lot about some of the conversations going on in blogosphere. So I thought, hey, I should start one and give you unfiltered updates on Capitol Hill.Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 7:59 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Courtesy of Tech Law Prof Blog, two recent decisions by magistrate judges have curtailed the government’s authority to track an individual’s location by obtaining data from wireless phone companies. The issue is not whether law enforcement authorities have the right to track cell phone usage, but whether the government has to show probable cause to do so.
In the first decision, Magistrate Stephen William Smith from the Southern District of Texas ruled against the Department of Justice and said that authorities have to show probable cause before tracking cell phone usage. In a later decision, federal magistrate judge James Orenstein in New York denied the Justice Department’s request to track someone’s cell phone location without probable cause. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been actively following, and participating in, these cases and has more information here and here.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 7:32 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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