other-countries
FCC wants 260 million people on 100Mbps broadband by 2020
Finally, the FCC has had it with “small ball”—and the agency is at last detailing some big-picture aspirational goals for US broadband. By 2020, the National Broadband Plan calls for 100 million homes to have 100Mbps Internet access, and the US should have the world’s largest “ultra-high-speed broadband testbeds.” In addition, Internet adoption rates should hit at least 90 percent—way up from the current 65 percent. Broadband will also become a universal service like the telephone system of old—and FCC Chairman Julius Genachoswki promised today that even baseline service would be faster than the 1-2Mbps currently pushed by other countries .
Continue reading »UK on the Forefront of Online TV, DVR Use
One in three Internet users in the UK is watching TV online, according to a new study by the British media regulation authority Ofcom. This trend seems to be largely driven by the BBC’s iPlayer, which is used by 27 percent of the country’s online population. However, traditional TV viewing still plays a huge role, and time-shifting through DVRs is growing quickly.
Continue reading »‘Piracy’ could boost UK broadband costs
UK government plans to force ISPs to to perform as taxpayer funded corporate entertainment industry police aren’t only doomed to fail, but may cost the industry £1 million ($C1,749,548) a day. And you know who’ll be expected to pick up the slack. Jane and Joe Muggins, that’s who — the people Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music are currently trying to sue into becoming compliant consumers of corporate crap.
Continue reading »Hollywood ISP cops rule!
Where would Hollywood (or the Big 4 music labels, for that matter) be without the likes of Hollywood Howard Berman? Earlier this year, “we wrote about how the US’s international copyright cops were complaining how people in other countries didn’t like them very much,” says Mike Masnick on TechDirt , continuing »»» Specifically, they seemed shocked that other countries didn’t necessarily agree with the US’s view of copyright. Also, in that post, we had a quote from the US Chamber of Commerce, who was quite worried about “anti-IP activists” who were a “threat” rather than folks providing evidence of how excessive IP can do a lot more harm than good for industry.
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