Well the NY AG got their way. Comcast does suspend NewsGroup service fearing a backlash from the Albany Politburo. The galling piece? Comcast does not even offer a discount to subscribers for terminating the service.

Link to Comcast screen.

The financial sector is shaking in its boots and we have this kind of garbage passing off for legislative leadership —

Congress’ current approval rating is a whopping 9 percent, and the average American has no idea just what the 535 congressional lawmakers in that esteemed body do all day. Well, the best and brightest of them has decided it’s time to criminalize cellphone calls on airplanes.

According to our friends at Runway Girl, a group of House reps led by Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has introduced the Halting Airplane Noise and Give Us Peace act, or HANG-UP. This bit of brilliant legislation would outlaw placing cellphone calls once you’ve taken your seat. “The public doesn’t want to be subjected to people talking on their cellphones on an already over-packed airplane,” DeFazio said when introducing the bill. In a bit of bipartisan cooperation rarely seen in Washington these days, bill co-sponsor John Duncan (R-Tenn.) added, “Cellphone users should not be able to disrupt the comfort of an entire airplane cabin. Especially when other passengers have no choice but to sit and listen.”

Thank you for you insight gentlemen.

Understandably, the companies that have developed in-flight cellphone technology are not happy with the bill. Aeromobile, OnAir, EMS Technologies and others have come together to form the Passenger Communications Coalition — gotta love the irony of them not having the website working yet — to lobby Congress to drop HANG-UP like an unwanted call. “Once the facts of the matter are understood, any reasonably minded person would say the legislation is not necessary,” says EMS Technology’s CEO Paul Domorski.

It’s more than unnecessary. It’s a colossal waste of time.

A waste of time? You bet. First this act won’t pass the 1st Amendment test. Nor the safety exclusion rule thereto. This is not corollary ‘yelling fire’ associated with the inconvenience of your seat mate yapping on the phone. It maybe inconsiderate but it certainly is not worth Congress’s time.

Nor does this solve anything. Many of the airlines are now installing in-flight internet. Add a little VoIP code to your laptop and you are talking again. To stop it the Congress would have to rule that the internet access on the planes is illegal. Airlines won’t go for that, they lose a revenue stream.

Linky.

The FCC has ruled that unlicensed devices including wireless microphones will no longer be welcome in the 700MHz band after the DTV transition. The decision comes as no surprise to manufacturers who have lobbied hard against it. We hope the FCC will act sensibly in re-allocating a small sliver of spectrum for these and other unlicensed devices.

The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to prohibit the use of wireless microphones and other devices in the 700-megahertz band after the transition to digital.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin proposed the ban earlier this month.

The FCC also wants to prohibit the manufacture, sale, import or shipment of such devices that operate in the 700-MHz band.

The devices have been sharing the spectrum with broadcasters on those channels (52-69), but those channels are being reclaimed for advanced wireless uses by industry and first-responders after the Feb. 17, 2009, transition to DTV.

The FCC said the move affects 156 licenses, but only 30 are not also authorized to operate in other bands that will still be available after the transition, including some DTV-spectrum band.

Effective on release of the order, there will be a freeze on applications for any “low-power auxiliary station,” which is the category that includes the wireless mikes, as well as equipment that synchronizes TV-camera signals.

The commission also sought comment on a proposal to authorize current unauthorized users in the 700 mHz band–many wireless mike users are not licensed, in violation of FCC rules–by allowing them to operator on channels below 52-69. It will also look into complaints about the marketing of those microphones. (Broadcasting & Cable)

We noted in passing the loss of Bell Labs basic research in the sciences. So now along comes a former Cisco CTO to do the Long Kentucky Road speil as well —

America is facing an innovation crisis. To fix it, corporations need to find new ways of funding fundamental research into physics and environmental sciences.

That’s the argument made by Judy Estrin, former Cisco CTO and author of the new book Closing the Innovation Gap.

Eatrin says Bell Labs’ decision to discontinue basic science research is just a continuation of a trend that started in the 1970s and 1980s when corporate America, under pressure from Japanese competitors, started cutting back on long-term research.

“Corporations focused on efficiencies and productivity started to make research more short term and tailored to the company’s needs,” says Estrin in an interview with Wired.com, “with the result that most research done at corporations now is applied research.”

What I think is a little rich is the ‘pot - kettle’ meme of this piece. Cisco is notorious for being a below the belt competitor. The ramifications of that is R&D efforts of now dead former competitors never see the light of day. Want to pop the cork on R&D? Make it a 100% write off, dollar for dollar. Whether its grants to universities or done in-house.

Linky.

In what has to be the craziest article I have read over there at Consumerist I must say this is in the top 10. Here is a bit of the piece –

So much for all that competition between Verizon, AT&T, Frontier, SureWest, Vonage, Skype, and others.

The telecoms have repeatedly proven that their version of the “free market” is a scam that harms consumers and enriches shareholders. California’s Public Utilities Commission has recommended the only reasonable measure: reinstating price controls.

Authored by ‘Carey’, they miss a few points –

* Landline phone service was carved up into LATA’s by regulators long ago. It is not permitted for a AT&T to encroach on a Verizon LATA. That pretty much precludes LATA-to-LATA competition. Blame the regulators for that one.

* Earth to Carey! Haven’t you noticed that EVERYTHING has gone u in price over the last 2 years? Especially the cost of electricty and labor.

* There is competition. There is competiton between wireless and wireline. There is competition between landline carriers and VoIP providers.

What I find really interesting is reading the comments. You see a deep disparity between those commenters who are taking advantages of those new service providers and those that just stick their head in the sand and cry wolf. It is a sad state of affairs when a significant component of the American public can’t think.

Consumerist.

In the words of one outspoken musician who broke free from the big labels and found a loyal audience before the internet was a public platform:

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced. - Frank Zappa 

Anyone who is paying attention knows that the onslaught of intellectual property laws coming out of our Luddite Congress are being written and paid for by old media, the big labels and failed business model purveyors like Microsoft.

While the big labels rarely pay artists, they have managed have a number of pay for play tiers put into place with the highest leveled against new media. Most recently is an extremely punitive per play royalty imposed on Internet play. The law’s effect silenced thousands of independent Internet broadcasters and now threatens the 2000 pound Gorilla of the business - Pandora. Never mind the fact Pandora freely promotes big label artists as well as independents better than old fashioned radio that pays no royalties.

Radio stations pay different rates depending on how they broadcast music. Terrestrial stations (normal FM/AM stations) pay nothing, a tribute to their powerful corporate parents with limitless lobbying budgets. Satellite stations pay approximately 1.6 cents per hour per listener. By 2010, Pandora and other Internet radio stations, which have few lobbying resources, must pay 2.91 cents.

Pandora says they’re alread paying 70% of their $25 million in yearly revenues in royalty fees, and it is driving them out of business. Other Internet radio stations are even worse off.

For their part, the music industry says Internet radio stations have no one but themselves to blame, and suggest they find more innovative revenue models.

The blatant discrimination between terrestrial, satellite and Internet radio stations is ridiculous. But little is likely to change - large scale protests last year over royalty increases were mostly ignored. (Tech Crunch)

Dear Congress. Quit staring at those RIAA and big label checks and perks for a while and see to the light. They, along with of you are the parasites in this society.

Why? Because according to this Wired article, 46% of all under 24yo drivers text at the wheel with thier cell phone/pda. So if the kid in the mirror has peach fuzz on his face you can figure that you have a 50/50 chance he is a distracted driver.

And that can result in a suspended license and prob8n. OMG.

Even if you’re in one of four states that ban texting while driving (or one of the 33 trying to), drivers who were distracted by phone messaging when they plowed into the back of the car in front of them can be nailed for negligent or reckless conduct, and that can be enough to get your license pulled.

The demographic breakdown of the survey isn’t particularly surprising, considering it mirrors the adoption of texting in general. A study last year by the Automobile Association of America found 46 percent of kids aged 16 and 17 text behind the wheel. Combine those stats with the invincibility complex every kid has and it’s a wonder more states haven’t taken action. Luckily, texting while driving in the AARP crowd is nearly nonexistent: We’d be terrified to get a text from grandma asking, “whch 1 iz D br8k?”

FindLaw’s stats probably understate the scope of the problem because any survey that tracks socially undesirable behavior will suffer from some bias. We can’t imagine a teenager answering a telephone survey with his mom in the next room is going to say, “Yeah, I text all the time when I’m driving — especially when I’ve got a Bud Light in the cup holder and I’m watching a DVD on my hacked AVIC-N3.” Let’s just hope that Barack Obama isn’t behind the wheel when he texts supporters the name of his running m8.

Personally I still don’t understand the fascination with textng. It takes longer to do than doing a speed dial. But hey every generation has its set of cultural markers to live by. Texting is just one of them. But mixing that with driving? Suspending license is too good. The authorities ought to go for revocation. Texting is a certain distraction. More so than just talking on the cell.

But hey you have been warned! Watch that mirror!

A very big part of what makes Third Pipe different from most of the net centric blogs in the ether is the Jeffersonian viewpoint of our team. We one of the few in the blogosphere that openly reports from this viewpoint while those who report from a left leaning elite viewpoint deny their slant.  Put simply, we believe in a free and open net without any government “management”, and a market that is open to many competing access providers as opposed the the regulated few we have today. Our tiny but important platform would be shuttered if we were forced to seek out and pay for content that provides an opposing view simply because we really don’t make any money here to begin with. The reinstatement of the incorrectly named “fairness doctorine” could very easily silence us and many more like us.

The commissioner, a 2006 President Bush appointee, told the Business & Media Institute the Fairness Doctrine could be intertwined with the net neutrality battle. The result might end with the government regulating content on the Web, he warned. McDowell, who was against reprimanding Comcast, said the net neutrality effort could win the support of “a few isolated conservatives” who may not fully realize the long-term effects of government regulation.

 

     “I think the fear is that somehow large corporations will censor their content, their points of view, right,” McDowell said. “I think the bigger concern for them should be if you have government dictating content policy, which by the way would have a big First Amendment problem.”

 

     “Then, whoever is in charge of government is going to determine what is fair, under a so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine,’ which won’t be called that – it’ll be called something else,” McDowell said. “So, will Web sites, will bloggers have to give equal time or equal space on their Web site to opposing views rather than letting the marketplace of ideas determine that?” (Business & Media Institute)

Before you convince yourself that Speaker Pelosi and her gang of elitists are only targeting bid media types like talk radio, consider this: Elites have never been interested in freedom of speech when it involves an agenda and viewpoint that is different from their own. Those who beleive that a reinstated “fairness doctorine” will not effect the internet may very well find their own voices permanently silenced as well. Please consider this before you vote in November.

Beware when protesting loudly to government. It could also bring you a little unwanted attention. Wireless mic makers have been getting rubber stamp FCC licenses to operate low power devices in the 700MHz range for decades without much fanfare.  Only when they began protesting proposed use of vacant channels or white spaces did the number of their devices in use on those same frequencies come into focus. Now the FCC is considering a freeze on new microphone licenses until their impact in the DTV transition can be studied.

In addition to the freeze, Martin is asking how the rules should be changed given the number of unlicensed mike users in that band, as well.

David Donovan of the Association for Maximum Service Television said the microphone issue raises some “very important questions,” adding that reclaiming that band will reduce the spectrum available for wireless mikes used by news reporters and newsrooms.

“This would appear to make it more difficult to place unlicensed devices on channels 21-51 since the demand for wireless-mike spectrum will increase on those channels,” he added. (Broadcasting and Cable)

Hey Sprint, what took you so long?

FCC should have summarily dismissed AT&T’s ploy to use te FCC to block or delay the merger of Sprint and Clearwire’s Wimax operations to create national network. AT&T has been very effective in using the FCC to eradicate competition for over a century. The FCC has typically recognized interests at odds with the telcos only when presented with intense pressure to do so. It’s good to see speint is not completely ignorant of this.

From Sprint’s response:

“The New Clearwire transaction presents an unparalleled opportunity to accelerate broadband deployment in the UNited States,” Sprint declared.

“Only three parties opposed the transaction or proposed conditions. Their claims lack merit and provide no basis for denying, delaying, or imposing conditions on the approval of the New Clearwire license transfers,” Sprint stated. (KansasCity.com)