Save Access

from: BlountViews

State Sen. Finney's constituent survey

Submitted by R. Neal on Sun, 01/13/2008 - 13:56.

If you're reading this, you probably got State Sen. Raymond Finney's annual constituent preference survey in the mail. If not, it's also in today's Maryville Daily Times. If you don't have that, it's online at Senator Finney Listens.

from: Lawerncian.com

Municipal WiFi Provider Forces Local Monopoly to Offer Free Broadband Service

Written by Matt Del Vecchio
Jan 11, 2008 at 09:32 AM

In an environment where troubled municipal Wi-Fi projects are showing up on front pages around the nation, a municipal Wi-Fi project in Lawrence, Kansas is using Wi-Fi to give one of the nation’s most dominant media companies a run for its money.

Note: The Hearing mentioned in this article is still being confirmed.

from: MLive.com

Comcast too quick
Saturday, January 12, 2008

Comcast Cable poorly handled the decision to change the channels for its public access, education and government (PEG) programming. That includes the rushed effective date -- it begins Tuesday after only 60 days' notice -- to the company's failure to consult with local government and school officials about the switch to the digital format.

from: The Daily Telegram

Suit may block channel move

Friday, January 11, 2008 11:40 PM EST

Comcast plans to move the public, education and government channels from their current locations in the double digits to the 900s.

By David Panian

Daily Telegram Staff Writer

Beginning Tuesday, Comcast viewers who check channels 20, 22 and 23 for local information might have to instead check channels 902, 915 and 916.

from: Broadband Reports (see comments section to this article)

MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT: Rebutting Misrepresentations and Inaccuracies from Art Brodsky’s Recent Post Regarding ConnectKentucky and Connected Nation

from: Wet Machine

There's Patriotism, But Then There's Cash

Posted By: Harold Feld

Like many, I have been both appalled at the federal domestic spying program and the subsequent the effort to undermine the Rule of Law by granting the telcos retroactive immunity. Which is why I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this USA today story reporting that the telcos shut down wiretaps legally authorized under FISA because the FBI failed to make the requisite billing payments.

from: USA Today

Audit: FBI's lapse in paying phone bill snips wiretaps

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY Jan. 11, 2008

WASHINGTON — Telecommunications carriers shut down some covert surveillance lines established by the FBI because the bureau failed to make timely bill payments, a Justice Department review found Thursday.

Note: AT&T developed coaxial cable in 1920 yet still considers twisted pair copper an adequate infrastructure for delivering their new network services to the home.

from: 3Screen.net (via AT&T press release)

AT&T Receives Technology & Engineering Emmy Award

Company Recognized for Helping to Shape Today's Entertainment and Broadband Industries with Invention of Coaxial Cable Technology

Another AT&T U-verse VRAD Cabinet Explodes

Updates 1/15/08:
AT&T Begins Massive Battery Replacement (Light Reading).
Wauwatosa residents had expressed safety concerns over AT&T cabinets (Save Access)
Additional Photos (Light Reading 1/22/08)

In the early hours of Christmas morning, an AT&T VRAD cabinet (DSLAM) exploded in the city of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Only days earlier, Governor Jim Doyle had signed Assembly Bill 207, a statewide cable franchise bill pushed through by AT&T despite the best efforts of municipalities and public interest advocates to stop it. A saveaccess reader concerned over the lack of any local or regional news coverage sent us the following note with the attached photos:

from: Web Pro News

AT&T Concessions Prove Meaningless

January 10, 2008
By Jason Lee Miller

Remember how after AT&T made Net Neutrality concessions to get their merger with BellSouth approved, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was so quick to remind everybody that the FCC had no teeth to enforce that? Well, the lack of teeth is coming back to bite us.