U.N. Telecom Agency Releases Secret Treaty, Critics Unswayed

By Carl Franzen – The International Telecommunications Union, the official United Nations telecommunications agency on Friday (July 13) announced that it would soon be making public a document that could determine the future of the Internet, a document that had previously been restricted only to government officials and selected paying members.

“What would make the WCIT process truly transparent is release of all country proposals as they are provided to the ITU,” Rashmi Rangnath, an attorney from Public Knowledge said. “This would allow everyone to see how the process of negotiation is evolving and respond to proposals that are most current.” more> http://tinyurl.com/86eovqk

Related articles

• Keep UN Out Of Internet Regulation (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)
• What is the ITU? The Struggle for Internet Governance (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)
• Regulation as Innovation, Bill Smith, CircleID
• Public Knowledge Disappointed that ITU Documents Remain Closed to the Public, Public Knowledge

Federal regulators taking a hard look at $3.6 billion Verizon cable deal

Verizon: Paying Politicians to Rule the Air (g1a2d0047c1) (Photo credit: watchingfrogsboil)

By Brendan Sasso – Verizon‘s $3.6 billion deal with a coalition of cable companies is raising eyebrows in Washington and could come under intense regulatory scrutiny.

Verizon agreed in December to buy wireless airwave licenses, or spectrum, from a group of cable companies, including Comcast and Time Warner. Under a separate deal announced simultaneously, Verizon and the cable companies agreed to cross-sell each other’s services.

“This issue is going to attract a lot of review,” Harold Feld, legal director for consumer group Public Knowledge, said. He worried that the deal will allow Verizon, which is the largest wireless carrier, to consolidate its control of the airwaves.

“All of the spectrum seems to be running to the biggest provider,” Feld said. more> http://tinyurl.com/8ycv897

Related articles

• An AT&T/Verizon Story: Why Nothing Is Ever ‘Over’ in Washington, Art Brodsky, TheHuffingtonPost.com
• Verizon’s Side Deals Draw Congressional Scrutiny (adweek.com)
• The Senate May Do to Verizon What It Did to AT&T (dailyfinance.com)
• Verizon’s cable spectrum mash up: Evil genius or simply genius? (gigaom.com)
• Verizon to start video streaming with Redbox (oregonlive.com)
• Verizon’s Cozying Up With Comcast Draws Attention (bits.blogs.nytimes.com)