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House of Representatives passes bill to restore net neutrality
The House of Representatives has passed a bill which would restore net neutrality rules the Federal Communications Commission repealed in 2017. Representatives approved the bill by 232-190 (with a sole Republican voting in favor), but the legislation still seems doomed.
Democrats introduce bill to restore net neutrality
Democrats have revealed a bill that aims to restore net neutrality rules. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were among the senators and congresspeople who announced the Save the Internet Act Wednesday. It's being introduced in both the House and the Senate and aims to codify the previous protections in law. Schumer called it a "real bipartisan effort," and hearings on the legislation are set to begin next week.
Google’s lower-cost Pixel phones may have been revealed in FCC filings
Filings made with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may have revealed two upcoming smartphones from Google. Documents posted by the government agency today show two new devices from the company, quite possibly the Pixel 3 Lite and Pixel 3 XL Lite handsets that have been rumored for months.
FCC claims rural broadband access is improving
In a draft of its annual Broadband Deployment report, the Federal Communications Commission says the so-called digital divide is narrowing. Millions more Americans have access to modern broadband connectivity, particularly in rural regions. As such, the report suggests broadband "is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis."
US government lays out strategy to speed up rural broadband deployment
The US government has unveiled a strategy called the American Broadband Initiative (ABI), which aims to speed up broadband deployment and bring faster, reliable internet access to tens of millions of Americans who don't yet have it. More than federal 20 agencies are involved with the project, which follows President Donald Trump signing an order last month to promote rural broadband.
After Math: Here turkey, turkey, turkey
Black Friday's annual madness capped off a holiday week jam packed with more major news breaks than you can stuff in a 10-pound bird. Uber was caught covering up a security breach impacting 57 million of its customers while the FCC revealed its plan to end net neutrality. We also saw the DOJ indict the HBO hacker and the Engadget Experience roll through LA. Numbers, because how else will you wager on presidential turkey pardons?
The rise of drone crime and how cops can stop it
It was supposed to be an easy $1,000 job. All 25-year-old Jorge Edwin Rivera had to do was pilot a drone carrying a lunchbox filled with 13 pounds of methamphetamine, from one side of the US-Mexico border to the other where an accomplice could retrieve the smuggled cargo. What he didn't count on was Border Patrol agents spotting the UAV in flight and tracking it back to his hiding spot, 2,000 yards from the national divide.
After Math: Starting up, shutting down
While the tech industry focused on all of the new shinies Google unveiled on Wednesday, the rest of the world turned. The Supreme Court shut down Kim Dotcom's attempts to get his millions back, Toys R Us made a last ditch effort to save itself from obscurity, and the FCC finally got around to starting the rebuilding process for Puerto Rico's crippled telephonic infrastructure.
Senate agrees to let carriers use your data however they want
The US Senate on Thursday voted in a resolution that will effectively eliminate the consumer privacy rules that the Federal Communications Commission enacted back in October. These rules had required service providers like Verizon and AT&T to obtain the customer's permission before selling their data to advertisers.
Community group: AT&T 'digitally redlines' poor neighborhoods
Cleveland-based community groups have issued a report accusing AT&T of engaging in a process known as "digital redlining" with regards to its broadband service in the city. The groups, Connect Your Community and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), allege that AT&T has purposefully and "systematically discriminated against lower-income Cleveland neighborhoods in its deployment of home Internet and video technologies over the past decade."
FCC halts nine companies from participating in the 'Lifeline' program
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced on Friday that the FCC will not let nine companies participate in the federal Lifeline program, which provides low-cost internet connectivity for some of America's lowest-income households. This decision comes just weeks after Pai's democratic predecessor, Tom Wheeler, had granted the companies permission.
President Obama signs the Consumer Review Fairness Act into law
President Obama signed a number of bills into law on Thursday, most notably H.R. 5111, the "Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016". The legislation, which passed both houses of congress at the start of December, "makes certain clauses of a form contract void if it prohibits, or restricts, an individual from engaging in a review of a seller's goods, services, or conduct."
The FCC is set to approve AT&T's DirecTV acquisition (update: DoJ too)
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the FCC is gearing up to approve AT&T's $49 billion acquisition of DirecTV. Commission Chairman Thomas Wheeler confirmed that he is set to call a vote on the matter with the FCC's other four commissioners. According to Wheeler, the proposal will "directly benefit customers" by increasing competition in the broadband marketplace. Most importantly, the FCC's approval comes with strings: AT&T will not be permitted to exclude affiliated video services and content from data caps on its fixed broadband connections, and it must submit all interconnection reports to the FCC, as well as reports on network performance. If the deal passes their vote, it will be clear to close. The deal will transform AT&T into the nation's largest pay television provider as well as its second largest telecom, combining AT&T's U-verse and DirecTV's satellite offerings. Update: The Justice Department also announced tonight that it "will not challenge" AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV, clearing the path for it to go through once the commission votes. For AT&T's part, it says "We hope the order will be approved by the Commission quickly and we expect to close shortly thereafter."
Sony's NEX-6 satisfies the FCC with paperwork, guts
Still hungry for a closer look at Sony's WiFi-packing NEX-6 despite perusing our hands-on? Apparently the FCC feels the same, so it's used its government-granted authority to inspect the camera first-hand, and tear it apart in the process. This isn't the only time the 16.1-megapixel shooter has been given the ruler treatment, but a full copy of its user's manual has notably come along for its US visit. Check out the gallery below to view this NEX's guts, or hit the source link to gloss over a PDF of the instruction manual -- might as well get the boring stuff done before the package arrives in November.%Gallery-165226%
FCC wants to know if it's too modest about broadband, gives chance to fight caps and slow speeds
A common complaint with the FCC's National Broadband Plan is its conservative definition of the broadband in question: many would argue that the 4Mbps baseline is an anachronism in an era of 4G, FiOS and Google Fiber. If you've ever wanted the FCC to up the ante, now's your chance. The regulator wants comments on its definitions of fixed and mobile broadband to gauge whether real-world trends like multi-user streaming video should lead to raised expectations for internet providers. Ever been burnt by a too-low bandwidth cap? It's open season on that area as well, with the FCC asking if it should define a minimum acceptable cap and possibly call for better limits than we see today. We just share GigaOM's wish that we could ask if every cap is even necessary, although the Department of Justice might be answering that for us. Americans have up until September 20th to make their voices heard, so get cracking if you'd like to set a higher bar.
Lenovo's seven-inch Android 4.0 tablet passes federal testing, on course for September release
While pricing hasn't revealed whether it'll spar with the Nexus 7 for the hearts of bargain tablet shoppers, Lenovo's smaller Android 4.0 slab, the A2107, has called in at the FCC. Again, there's not all that much we can glean from a tablet that's prone and turned off, but it does give the product another nudge towards launching next month. Fans of all things radio and wireless can peruse the official filing at the source below.
Archos' Transformer rival reappears, passes federal inspection, forgets its keyboard
If you cast your mind back several months, you might recall Archos unveiling a new range of tablets that can pair up with a keyboard add-on. While the French tablet maker kept quiet on the specifics at its debut-- with not even a mention of the hardware's OS -- a filing at the FCC helps plug some of those information gaps. Courtesy of the user manual, we can see that the tablet will be running Android 4.0, while the as-yet unspecified storage capacity can be expanded by microSD. There's a mini-HDMI port that looks like it will require its own proprietary cable, and the keyboard dock? Well, it's absent from this FCC gallery, but it does appear in the user manual, demonstrating a twist and lift mechanism that creates a pop-up stand for the slab. Gaze on in horror as those FCC technicians prise open the Archos 101 xs' shell and scope out the internal works -- it's all in the source below.
Xperia GX goes through federal inspection, is still the Sony phone we want
Sony's forthcoming 4.6-inch Android ICS slab has appeared at the FCC, and has revealed a few more details on what appears to be the company's next flagship smartphone. The highlight of the federal-sanctioned autopsy of the Xperia GX reveals an interesting point; a pentaband 3G radios capable of HSPA speeds, something that's still a rarity among global smartphones. The filing otherwise offers up a not-so-thrilling glimpse at the hardware labeling and, well, not much else. See for yourself at the link below.
Mystery WiFi Logitech webcam diagram appears, lacks role-reversing hardware photos
Logitech's collection of subtle HD webcams launched a few months ago, but an unannounced WiFi-connected camera has appeared at the FCC. Labelled up as the Logitech Broadcaster, a little bit of investigation reveals that the camera may be able to function unencumbered by cabling, similar to Livestream's identically-named Broadcaster add-on or the ill-fated FlipLive cams. Connected through WiFi -- thus explaining its appearance at the FCC -- we still don't know specifics on how it'll be powered, whether it's through a self-contained battery or otherwise. Until then, emissions and wavelength obsessives can direct themselves to the source for the science.
Panasonic's P-08D Eluga Live tablet makes a quick splash at the FCC, keeps no secrets
It wasn't too long ago that we saw Panasonic's Eluga Live slate destined to be one of NTT DoCoMo's upcoming slab offerings, and now it has managed to land itself all the way across the pond at the probing FCC offices. Interestingly enough, but not terribly exciting, the filing reveals Panasonic's P-08D tablet supports the 850MHz bands -- which in theory should allow it to coast through AT&T's old-gen waves without any hiccups, though this doesn't necessarily mean it ever will. That of course, goes along with its expected WiFi capabilities and those DLNA streaming goods we'd told you about during its earlier appearance. As is often the case, however, the Eluga Live's recent FCC visit doesn't assure it'll ever see the light of day in the US, but it does keep the magic doors open. If you're eager to give the full set of docs a rundown, you can do so at the source link below.
