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Google's Search For Dominance
Richard M. Smith, a Boston Internet security consultant, told the Post: "It's this whole new world. It's sort of like all these little details about our lives are being recorded. We love the conveniences. We love the services. But people kind of instinctively know there's a dark side to this. They just hope it won't happen to them."
• The Washington Post: Privacy Eroding, Bit By Byte (Registration required)
Michael Powell's Bag of Goodies
The Federal Communications Commission continues to make decisions that will almost certainly affect how and where you access the Internet. Yesterday, the agency gave the go-ahead for power utilities to begin offering broadband connectivity over their existing lines.
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So how long before you can literally "plug-in" to the 'Net? Wired News said it is "unclear, however, just how long it will take for such services to become widespread. The Federal Communications Commission's order also creates rules designed to protect existing licensed radio service users from harmful interference from broadband over power lines, or BPL, systems, providing more regulatory certainty for electric utilities considering deploying internet service. It's all part of an effort to encourage wider adoption of high-speed services in the United States, which now ranks 11th among countries in broadband penetration. Right now, cable modem and digital subscriber line, or DSL, services hold a virtual duopoly over wired broadband services to the home."
• Wired News: Broadband: More Power To You
Meanwhile, the FCC made an important ruling on another aspect of broadband regulation. The New York Times reported: "As a further spur to the rollout of broadband Internet services, the F.C.C. also ruled that the regional Bell companies do not have to give competitors access to fiber optic lines that reach into consumers' home - a decision that prompted two of the Bells, SBC Communications and BellSouth, to announce that they would move quickly to build new fiber optic networks in residential neighborhoods. The ruling was criticized by rivals of the Bells and consumer groups, which called it anticompetitive and said it would lead to higher prices." The Los Angles Times offered this color: "The FCC action puts the big local phone companies in a much stronger position to compete with cable companies for broadband customers, said Jessica Zufolo, telecom analyst for Medley Global Advisors in Washington."
• The New York Times: FCC Clears Internet Access By Power Lines (Registration required)
• The Los Angeles Times: Fiber Optic Rules Set (Registration required)
According to The Wall Street Journal, the broadband "decision, which would let the Bells build fiber-optic networks to within 500 feet of a customer's home, is likely to help the Bells in their drive to expand offerings into television and video services to better compete with cable-TV companies, which have been taking away phone customers. SBC yesterday said it would accelerate its plan to build an all-digital, high-speed network that reaches 18 million homes by 2007, two years earlier than planned. ... The FCC's decision is another blow to AT&T Corp. and other companies that entered the local-phone market through a provision in the 1996 Telecommunications Act requiring the Bells share their local-phone networks with rivals."
• The Wall Street Journal: Regional Bells Get Broadband Win (Subscription required)
Consumer groups are already balking. "The FCC today took our country one giant step closer toward solidifying a two-company domination the local cable and telephone providers — over the consumer Internet market," said Gene Kimmelman, senior policy director for Consumers Union, as quoted by the AP. "Consumers will see their choices diminish and their bills skyrocket."
• The Associated Press via USA Today: FCC Approves Fiber-Optic Broadband Rules
Flying Wired
Wireless Internet access in jetliners may not be a pie-in-the-sky notion for much longer. "The good news is that U.S. domestic flights could soon become Wi-Fi hot spots, letting passengers surf the Web at 35,000 feet as easily as they can at Starbucks. The bad news is that federal regulators have been boxed into a no-win situation: promote low prices and great features, or ensure the service works reliably. Unfortunately, some industry officials say, it may be impossible to do both," USA Today reported. "The Federal Communications Commission is set next month to decide how to auction spectrum to wireless carriers to bring high-speed Internet service to U.S. airlines as early as next year. Proponents say the new 'air-to-ground' service would be more economical for struggling U.S. airlines than current satellite-based in-flight broadband offered only overseas."
• USA Today: Decision Looms On High-Speed Access Aloft