Episode 2220 – Net-reversality

Patrick Beja is on the show and they talk about the FCC’s proposed Open Internet rules. Are they good, bad or irrelevant? How worried should you be?



Or you can download the MP3 version here.

Headlines

 * The FCC’s Chairman Tom Wheeler posted on the FCC website that a draft Open Internet Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will circulate today to the commission. The notice will be discussed at a meeting May 15th, then opened for public comment. The notice tries to re-craft Open Internet guidelines after being struck down in court. It preserves the transparency requirement and prohibition against blocking. However it changes the non-discrimination rules from reasonable to “commercially reasonable” opening the way for paid prioritization of traffic to ISP customers.


 * The Verge reports that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed the “Marco Civil da Internet” the so-called &#8220;internet constitution&#8221; into law yesterday before speaking at a conference on web governance in Sao Paulo. The law protects Internet privacy and guarantees open access to the Web.


 * TechCrunch reports Vic Gundotra announced he is leaving Google. Gundotra did not say where he is going next, merely that he is “looking forward to the journey yet to come.” Gundotra started the Google I/O developers conference and was its host. He also started Google +. CEO Larry Page told Recode that Google will continue to invest in Google +.


 * GigaOm reports Facebook plans to acquire Finnish company ProtoGeo which makes the fitness tracking app Moves. The app records a wide range of activities including walking, biking, and running and can tell when you’re riding public transit. Moves will continue to operate independently after the acquisition is complete.


 * TechCrunch reports Facebook also launched FB Newswire, in partnership with News Corp’s Storyful. Storyful verifies news stories arising from social networks so journalists can avoid fakes and exaggerations. FB Newswire will collect “newsworthy content” that Facebook users share and that has been verified by Storyful.


 * One of our top subreddit stories today submitted by tekkyn00b comes from Ars Technica. We knew Hector Xavier Monsegur, AKA “Sabu,” became a confidential FBI informant following his 2011 arrest. What we didn’t know was that FBI agents supervising Sabu knew he was directing attacks against websites operated by Iranian, Syrian and Brazilian governments, among tothers, and data from the attacks was passed to US intelligence agencies. The attacks toook advantage of the Plesk bug, meaning the FBI was aware of the bug for a month before its disclosure. The information comes from documents obtained by the New York Times.


 * TechCrunch reports that French Assembly member Thomas Thévenoud announced his report on an agreement between transportation startups like Uber and traditional French taxi companies. One of the 30 points in particular has caused outrage. Companies like SnapCar will not be able to show you how close their cars are to you via their apps. But taxi companies will be allowed to use geolocation. The report will become law in the coming weeks.


 * Microsoft announced it&#8217;s Quarterly earnings with $20.40 billion in revenue and earnings per share of $0.68 Analysts expected $20.39 billion in revenue and $0.63 per share. Devices and Consumer revenue grew 12% to $8.30 billion, while Commercial revenue at the firm grew 7% to $12.23 billion


 * Amazon announced it&#8217;s Quarterly earnings Amazon reported net sales up 23 percent to $19.74 billion and earnings of 23 cents a share. Analysts expected $19.43 billion in revenue and $0.23 per share.

News From You

 * Draconos submitted the Ars Technica story that the Linux Foundation has announced a three-year initiative to pool at least $3.9 million to help underfunded open source projects, starting with OpenSLL. Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell, Facebook, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, Qualcomm, Rackspace, and VMware have all pledged to commit at least $100,000 a year. OpenSSL won’t be the only project getting money, so it won’t get all of that, but it should end up with significantly more than the $2,000 a year it was getting.


 * KAPT_Kipper posted the CNET story that ARM says the shift to 64-bit mobile devices is happening faster than it expected. ARM expected 64-bit chip to be mostly needed for servers at first. TSMC made similar comments last week. ARM&#8217;s executive vice president of corporate strategy, Tom Lantzsch, said even 32-bit code runs better on a 64-bit processor which may be one reason. He also said he though the capability for 64-bit Android phones should arrive by Christmas.


 * Tekkyn00b submitted the Gizmodo story about Amazon Prime Pantry, a service that allows you to have up to 45 pounds worth of household items shipped to your door for $6. Of course you have to pay for the items too. 45-pounds of cheese puffs, on its way!


 * And KAPT_Kipper posted the Boing Boing story that previously unknown digital artwork created by Andy Warhol has been recovered from old Amiga floppy disks, circa 1985. Warhol created the works with Graphicraft on a commission from Commodore to demonstrate the graphic capabilities of the Amiga. A documentary film about the file recovery called &#8220;Trapped&#8221; will premiere on May 10 at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall in Pittsburgh.

FCC U

 * http://www.fcc.gov/blog/setting-record-straight-fcc-s-open-internet-rules
 * http://www.dailytechnewsshow.com/the-fcc-puts-the-internet-on-life-support/
 * http://gigaom.com/2014/04/24/the-fcc-doesnt-want-a-pay-to-play-internet-but-it-may-not-be-able-to-stop-it/
 * http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/the-fccs-fast-lane-rule-is-awful-for-the-internet-just-ask-the-fcc/
 * http://boingboing.net/2014/04/24/a-musical-letter-to-the-fcc-by.html
 * http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/24/5646500/brazil-looks-to-protect-privacy-and-net-neutrality-with-internet-bill
 * http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/u-s-plan-for-internet-fast-lanes-contrasts-with-european-rules/
 * http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20140331IPR41232/html/Ensure-open-access-for-internet-service-suppliers-and-ban-roaming-fees-say-MEPs
 * http://gigaom.com/2014/04/24/when-it-comes-to-net-neutrality-either-the-fcc-thinks-were-idiots-or-it-just-doesnt-care/

Pick of the Day

 * Unroll.me

"Hey both, here’s a daily pick for ya: Unroll.me."

"It’s a very useful “email decluttering” service. It gives you the option to gather all the “semi-unwanted” emails in a daily summary. You decide which ones go in the summary, and which ones you actually never see again. They all get stored in a specific folder, so you never really lose them."

It’s a great way to deal with “bacn”, and has become an indispensable tool in my endless quest for Inbox Zero (which I actually achieve every once in a while). PS: I believe it only works with Gmail (of course), but seriously, who doesn’t use gmail nowadays? :)

"Give it a try! Hugs, Patrick Beja "