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from: MultiChannel News

COVER STORY: When Capacity Is Never Enough
The Cautionary Tale Of Video Downloads
By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld -- Multichannel News, 3/22/2008 5:34:00 AM

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A bit is a bit is a bit. An electronic packet of data is a packet is a packet. Unless you look inside to see what it contains.

from: Commnity Media in Transition

Why Net Neutrality Matters for PEG Access TV

March 2nd, 2008 by Colin Rhinesmith

At last week’s FCC hearing at Harvard Law School, the issue of network neutrality once again took center stage. As the Internet giant Google describes the issue

“Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet.”

from: Open Left

Comcast Manipulating NAACP on Net Neutrality

By now you've probably heard that Comcast hired a crowd to sit in an FCC hearing on net neutrality so interested citizens couldn't get a spot to speak. The gist of Comcast's excuse is that they hired people to hold spots for Comcast employees, though those people accidentally fell asleep and stayed in their seats throughout the entire hearing. Nuts.

from: Drew Clark

In Comcast vs. Verizon, Comcast is Down Two Counts
February 27th, 2008 · No Comments

By Drew Clark

Dominance in the broadband market is a battle of both technology and politics. Right now Comcast, America’s leading cable company, is losing on both counts.

Note: We hear it's common practice for corporations and lobbyists to hire line waiters and seat warmers for Congressional hearings too - this is why you only see suits in the front rows of major hearings. Apparently democracy has a price . . .

from: Wet Machine

For the Clueless Among Us: Why Comcast Paying Folks to Attend FCC Hearing Is Wrong. I can't believe I actually need to explain this.

from: Media - Space - Place - Network

FCC En Banc: Annals of the Battle for the Last Mile
February 26th, 2008
Fred Johnson

Harvard Law School was “Markey Country” today as Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey defended net neutrality in his opening remarks before the FCC’s Public En Banc Hearing on broadband network management practices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Markey declared the US “no country for old bandwidth” and hung around to observe, with the rest of us, the FCC, “en banc” and securely enclosed in Harvard space droning through a tedious day of testimony and q&a, comfortably surrounded by an audience packed with polite but bored Comcast employees trained to provide applause on cue.

Comcast Threatens the Open Internet – FCC Hears Complaints
Last summer, users of Comcast internet services reported cut-offs and significant decreases in their download speeds when they were sharing large content such as video, audio and data files using a peer-to-peer sharing application known as Bit Torrent (www.bittorrent.com).

from: Colorado Confidential

Telecom Campaign Money Shifts to Democrats in Net Neutrality Fight

January 30, 2008
By Dan Whipple

As the new Congress considers legislating network neutrality for internet service providers, telecoms in Colorado are piling on the campaign cash for Democrats who will decide the issue. Campaign donations from telecoms in the state have shifted dramatically from Republican candidates to Democratic ones over the 2004-2008 election cycles.

from: Ars Technica

P2P users blast Comcast in FCC proceeding

By Matthew Lasar | Published: January 29, 2008 - 08:14AM CT

Two weeks into a Federal Communications Commission public comment period on whether Comcast deliberately degrades P2P broadband traffic, there's no shortage of angry users who feel cheated and want the tampering to stop. Evidence is also mounting that Comcast is blocking more than just P2P traffic.

from: Information Week

With Comcast Under Fire, Vuze Enjoys Growth Surge

From InformationWeek, January 18, 2008
By Richard Martin

While controversy swirls around the struggle between traditional big-pipe entertainment providers to the home — specifically the cable carriers and namely Comcast, the nation’s largest cable TV service — and providers of online peer-to-peer content services, particularly BitTorrent, the market for online movies and other forms of content continues to grow apace.