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There’s nothing like a quick trip to the Old Country to advise regulators on the folly of our New World ways. I’ll be speaking in Brussels on Oct. 14 and in London on the 15th to help our cousins structure their telecom regulations appropriately. These events are coordinated by my friends at the Institute for [...]
Archive for September, 2008
Comcast was right, FCC was wrong
September 28th, 2008 
Richard Bennett A fellow named Paul Korzeniowski has written a very good, concise piece on the Comcast action at the FCC for Forbes, Feds And Internet Service Providers Don’t Mix. He manages to describe the controversy in clear and unemotional language, which contrasts sharply with the neutralists who constantly use emotionally-charged terms such as “blocking,” “Deep Packet [...]
Debate Verdict: McCain snatches defeat from the jaws of victory
September 28th, 2008 Richard Bennett I score the debate for McCain. The first part, on the financial crisis & bailout, was even, since neither candidate is truly in the loop. They’ve both tried to look they were involved, with McCain pulling the stunt about suspending his campaign to rescue the bill, but it didn’t work: the deal was still uncertain [...]
Google’s Telephony Patent Application not Novel
September 26th, 2008 Richard Bennett Google has apparently filed an application for a system that allows bandwidth provider to bid on phone calls:
Google’s patent is called “Flexible Communication Systems and Methods†and the abstract says:
“A method of initiating a telecommunication session for a communication device include submitting to one or more telecommunication carriers a proposal for a telecommunication session, receiving [...]
Time for Palin to Step Down
September 26th, 2008 Richard Bennett Kathleen Parker offers Sarah Palin some sage advice:
Palin didn’t make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.
It was fun while it lasted.
Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying [...]
Why I don’t like One Web Day
September 22nd, 2008 Richard Bennett Today is OneWebDay, the annual exercise in promoting the World Wide Web and touting its many benefits. Each year the event has a theme, and this year’s is something to do with the American election, which is a fine, if somewhat parochial issue for a global event.
OWD is the brainchild of law professor Susan Crawford, [...]
Secret laws are not law
September 21st, 2008 Richard Bennett While looking for the essence of Lessig’s “code is law” formulation, I happened on this little gem:
If there is one thing clear about the value we demand of East Coast Code, it is transparency. Secret laws are not law. And if there is one thing clear about the recent panic about privacy, it is that [...]
Comcast files their compliance plan
September 19th, 2008 Richard Bennett Today was the deadline for Comcast to tell the FCC how its existing congestion management system works, as well as how its “protocol agnostic” replacement is going to work. To the dismay of some critics, they’ve done just that in a filing that was hand-delivered as well as electronically filed today. It will be posted [...]
Posted in Comcast, FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality, Regulation 
Tags: net+neutrality Comcast FCC 
Comments OffA Conservative for Obama
September 19th, 2008 Richard Bennett John McCain is many things, but “conservative” is not one of them. See Wick Allison’s succinct essay on why he’s voting for Obama after donating the maximum to McCain during the primaries, A Conservative for Obama:
Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.†We ought to do this or that because it’s [...]
