Well a commentator over at Public Knowledge says –

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Monday hearing in Cambridge, Mass., will be a reality check about how control of the Internet can be accomplished, by whom, and what the consequences will be.

Commissioners will have the chance to question, in public, representatives of businesses that could be affected by Comcast’s throttling of BitTorrent and to make Comcast defend itself in the face of live criticism from those who know the Internet best. Comcast and the FCC will have to tell David Reed, who originated the “end to end” architecture idea for the Internet why it’s better to have Comcast and other network operators take control, rather than users and content suppliers. BitTorrent will note how the technology is going mainstream, used by such respectable customers as NASA.

We can certainly hope that it is the case. A little blood letting is always good for the tyrant(s). But I suspect that this will be more of a talking head kind of affair. Why? Well consider two facts –

1) The two antagonists Comcast vs Bittorret are on two seperate panels between 2 time intervals. You would really want the have those two representative on the panel at the same time.

2) Bittorrent is not a carrier but a tool. So how does that fit in a discussion from the FCC view as it relates to network management. Bittorrent is not a practice but the cause for having one. Bittorrent will not manage the network. Also keep in mind that Bittorrent is already making moves to defeat the current network mgt tools deployed by Comcast.

Mr. Brodsky, wish this was going to be an a ‘effective’ meeting but I am afraid it is going to be a droll CYA type discussion. The speaker alignment swages against it.

Linky.

‘maddog’ Hall is one of a rare breed of individual. Like Stallman, Torvaldals and Cerf who have made our digital life possible. What distinguishes maddog from most is his penchant for not offering interviews even though he is a prolific writer. Well here is a rare glimpse of the man, in full plumage. [on the right] –

Click To Play

Download Ogg Theora

For most of you Windows users you will need to download the appropriate OGG player. Mplayer is a good choice as they provide the CODEC with the package.

I met ‘maddog’ at a symposium in Philadelphia when we were both very much younger than we are today. He is a fervent Open Source proponent. But unlike Stallman has a keen business sense of how FOSS fits in an overall business plan.

Linky.

Meg Whitman, current CEO pulls the golden parachute March 31. Donahoe is already named as her successor. Interesting we don’t get the usual ‘more time with family’ nonsense. Instead we get –

“Ten years is about the right amount of time for a CEO to serve in this industry,” Whitman said on a conference call this afternoon. “It’s important that new perspective and new eyes come to the company. It’s tough to stay fresh, no matter who you are.”

eBay still makes bundles of cash. eBay also epitomizes many attributes of a ThirdPipe firm — virtual, cost reducer and expanding the little guy. But on a personal note I lost interest in eBay when the eStores became a dominant component of the listings. I used to use eBay to find those parts and pieces I could not find anywhere else. Yes I can still do that but the person to person feel is gone. Plus I have to wade thru 4-8 screens of 26 sellers all hawking a windup phone all within pennies of each other in price. I don’t have the time for such foolishness.

I hope that the new CEO will return eBay to its roots.

Linky.

We all know the phone choices we have as consumers are under control of the carriers. Its not just the phone selection but the features in a phone. Would you be surprised to find out that many US phones have WIFI chips built in but disabled? All to protect the carriers revenue stream. Well read on –

That didn’t sound quite right to me and, as it turns out, it didn’t sound right to
some of the nation’s leading consumer technology columnists either. Even though we inhabit very different ecosystems, they were—quite separately—concluding that the cell phone market looks a lot worse than other parts of the personal electronics market. And, boy, were they right! When I buy a new computer, I get to choose exactly what I want: a personalized bundle of processor, hard drive, video card, display, networking device and so forth, plus whatever software I wish to load. Wherever I can get a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection, I can reach the content I want: Business Week, the Wall Street Journal, the FCC’s homepage, or the millions of videos on YouTube. It’s a fantastic world of choice—and we need to keep it this way.

Now let’s look at the cell phone market. For the most part, we’re limited to the handful of phones that our particular carriers have selected for us. Most of those devices offer precious little choice over applications or content. And, even more amazing, though my device may be branded Nokia, Motorola, LG or whatever—it’s the carrier (not the handset manufacturer) that has the final say on its features. That is why, as Chairman Martin demonstrated at an FCC open meeting, the European version of a leading manufacturer’s popular phone comes with Wi-Fi, yet the identical model here in the U.S. comes without Wi-Fi—simply because the U.S. carrier wanted to protect its business
model. How on earth do American consumers benefit when a perfectly good feature is disabled so their carrier can protect its revenue stream?

In addition to the downsides for consumers, the carrier veto handicaps entrepreneurs (which then in turn further harms consumers). When Google’s founders had an idea about how to build a search engine, they bought some server space literally using their credit cards (this was in 1998), put their product on the Web, and you all know the rest. When a wireless entrepreneur has a great idea, he or she has to pitch it to the handful of carriers—and if they say no, it never leaves the ground. The New York Times reports that European wireless designers think our system is nuts. Maybe they’re right.

The Carterphone decision opened the wireline POTS market to third parties. Consumers were no longer locked in to buying or renting a Western Electric or Automatic Electric phone set. So Commissioner Copps asks the essential question — why not Carterphone for wireless? It IS the question. The carriers I believe are resolved that a Carterphone for wireless will happen. Verizon is preparing to open its network to foreign devices. AT&T is now preparing to issue contracts to users without a phone plan upgrade. The 700mhz auction that starts tomorrow will accelerate that trend with its requirements of ‘open systems’.

Is the FCC telegraphing a message?

The whole speech by Commissioner Copps here.

It never comes as a surprise how top level execs who are associated with disasters seem to keep landing on their feet. Lisa Hook, who presided over the melt down at Sun Rocket after managing AOL’s less than stellar success at moving dial up users to DSL is now at the helm of NeuStar. The company provides addressing and interop services to service providers and carriers. Neustar has ponied up $435K+ annually for her unique expertise. The company is doing well according to their most recent annual report, but it did trade down today at 28.50 - near the bottom of it’s 3 month average. Congrats to Ms. Hook, and best wishes for success this time around. Link to story on Fox Business.

An interview over at cNet that is certainly worth the read. Mr. Tiemann partakes of a spirited defense of their new CEO. Well worth the read.

Link.

A interview with the Nortel CTO, over a Forbes. It is worth your time to take the read.

Linky.

Om Malik of GigaOm just posted report on his meeting with Mr Neil during his recent trip to Paris. Neil’s company and the state of broadband in France clearly demonstrates why the duopoly in the US has labored so hard to keep line sharing or local loop unbundling out of the marketplace.

On free.fr from GigaOm:

it has taken the French telecom market by the scruff and given it a vigorous shake.

How? By offering a flat-rate, high-speed Internet connection for 30 euros ($43) a month. That gives Free.fr’s three million subscribers a connection speed of roughly 28 megabits per second over DSL, free IPTV (and a free set-top box), a free Wi-Fi hub, and unlimited voice calls to some 70 countries.

Perplexed by the panoply of features offered by his service, I asked Niel how Free.fr does it. “We are a broadband service provider,” was his matter-of-fact reply. “Everything else — from voice to IPTV to storage – is just a feature that rides on this data service.” For the rest of the telecom industry, long addicted to metered minutes and billable items, this is rebellious thinking.

The rest of the report is highly recommended reading, especially for those who are not yet convinced that real competition will cure most of the ills currently associated with access providers.

It will be interesting to watch the investment community try to read the tea leaves on this one. It’s probably safe to say the Mr. Giancarlo does not anticipate a big jump in Cisco’s stock price for the near term. Giancarlo’s next role is as managing director at the investment firm Silver Lake.

Giancarlo joined Cisco 14 years ago when it bought Ethernet switch maker Kalpana. He started Cisco’s business development organization and spearheaded its aggressive acquisition strategy, even in the lean years following the dot-com crash of 2000.

During the conference call, Chambers and Giancarlo were affable and nostalgic about their long working relationship — but they never minced words: Chambers said he has little intention of stepping down in the near future; he emphasized that he would remain CEO for at least three years, more likely five.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo alluded to his ambitions to be at the helm of a company, and he was frank about the shrewd calculations he made about his career after turning 50 this year.

“I went home one day and talked to my wife and said, ‘Honey, I now know what you mean by a biological clock,’” Giancarlo said. “I feel young, but you do the math: I don’t know what my decision process will be in five years, but I know what it is today.” (from Yahoo)

Anyone who follows the access industry that does not believe that the duopoly has the most of the Senate in their corner is badly misinformed. Rumor has it a yet to be published New York Times article implicates McCain in giving preferential treatment to a Telecom lobbyist. It’s origin is probably a bit of mudslinging by an opponent in the presidential race. McCain’s record and statements are telling enough:

McCain, who has spent 20 years in the Senate, has spent ample time on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, overseeing new technology laws. McCain tried to kill line sharing before the FCC effectively did it for him, has loudly supported the “a la carte” TV pricing model and has fought against network neutrality laws, arguing that “when you control the pipe you should be able to get profit from your investment.”

McCain denies giving anyone unfair treatement, telling the Associated Press “I do find the timing of this whole issue very interesting.” There’s not much more to say until the Times report surfaces (if it surfaces) but we’re sure you’re as shocked as we are at the mere possibility that telecom companies have any control over the nation’s government. (from Broadband Reports)

Come on, Senator McCain, you can’t really say forced line sharing is wrong if the current laws do not allow a competitor to install similar infrastructure (local loop unbundling). The sharing arrangement included payment for the use of the line by the competitor. I don’t mean to single out Mr. McCain, there are 99 more like him in the senate, and most support the same policy concerning the duopoly regardless of party affiliation. If you stick you head above the pack of your peers, usually one of them will take a whack at it. This does not make your other actions any different from the rest. They all need to retire and give a new group a chance.