Category: politics

21 January 2008

CTIA Opposed To Arizona’s Cellphone Users Bill Of Rights

Filed under: mobile network operators, politics, telecom - 21 Jan 2008

Arizona Capital Roof

It seems like I’ve been ragging on the CTIA quite a bit lately, but these guys make it so easy.

In what turns out to be absolutely no surprise to anyone, the fine folks at the CTIA–the
industry association for the mobile operators in the U.S.–are opposing Arizona Senate Bill S-1010: The Cellphone Users Bill Of Rights. Why might they be doing that? Let’s see what the CTIA association president Steve Largent says:
The truth is that when you attempt to regulate a modern, high-tech industry as if it were a 1970’s public utility service, you wind-up hurting the people you’re seeking to protect. Just imagine the cost increases and customer confusion that would ensue if wireless carriers were forced to abandon their national calling and data plans, advertising campaigns, billing and customer care systems in order to set-up and comply with dissimilar regulations in 50 - or even two - different states.
Are they really asking for anything that would affect that? Let’s see what S-1010 is asking for:

6 December 2007

Don’t Fsck With Bloggers

Filed under: blogging, politics - 06 Dec 2007

BlognationSam Sethi picked the wrong blogger to lie to–repeatedly. That blogger was Oliver Starr. Apparently, he hasn’t been paid since Blognation was started. Repeated promises of payment and funding were made, …

16 November 2007

Emperors and Pirates

Filed under: politics - 16 Nov 2007

Looks and sounds an awful lot like School House Rock…

[video]http://youtube.com/watch?v=JdYZCcATg3Q[/video]

15 November 2007

Why Isn’t Copying DVDs Easier?

Filed under: entertainment, linux, politics, software - 15 Nov 2007

Curious GeorgeI want to be clear: I’m talking about regular DVDs, not Blueray or HD. I’m also not talking about making copies for my friends, or other people on the Internet. I’m talking …

22 September 2007

Talking On The Phone Doesn’t Cause Accidents–Who Knew?

Filed under: gadgets, politics - 22 Sep 2007

Talking on Cell Phone While DrivingIt seems that politicians like to try and do what’s best for us by protecting us from ourselves. They pass things like seatbelt laws–wear one or we can …

1 August 2007

Nokia Applauds FCC Decision To Require Open Access in 700MHz Spectrum

Filed under: nokia, politics - 01 Aug 2007

CarterfoneIt’s nice to see my employer is happy with the recent decision by the FCC to require companies that purchase spectrum in the upcoming 700MHz actions to actually permit any compatible device to connect. While I certainly applaud that as a consumer (not speaking for Nokia), I would like it even more if they applied these principles to the existing wireless spectrum. It’s called the Carterfone rules, as I’ve written about before.

It would be nice if I could figure out the right person(s) to discuss this with in Nokia. Believe me, I bring it up every chance it’s appropriate. Clearly this press release, which I will include after the jump, indicates that “open access” in the U.S. is something the company supports.

Do you want to be able to use any compatible device on the wireless networks? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

19 March 2007

P2P Positively Affects Piracy?

Filed under: politics - 19 Mar 2007

At least according to the guys at Torrent Freak. This isn’t a surprise, really. When you have a broadband connection and can download CDs in under an hour, or a DVD in a few hours, and you have a

14 March 2007

Google Reader Odds and Ends

Filed under: connectivity, marketing, nokia, phoneboy, politics, telecom - 14 Mar 2007

More off the Google Reader. Funny, my starred list has gotten bigger…

The US a Third World Communications Country:  I have to agree with Rich Tehrani. We do live in a third-world country when it comes to communications. That’s what …

10 February 2007

Guns and Camera Phones

Filed under: Lifeblog, gadgets, nokia, politics - 10 Feb 2007

There is an ongoing debate about the fact that teachers aren’t real fond of camera phones being in schools because, well, their tirades can end up all over YouTube.My employer, Nokia, has sold more digital cameras embedded in mobile …

31 January 2007

Slow Blogging and a Smathering of Stuff

Filed under: gadgets, nokia, politics, voip - 31 Jan 2007

As you may have noticed, I’ve slowed down a bit on blogging. Writing hasn’t exactly been flowing freely from my fingertips the past week or so. Not that there isn’t anything going on out there, just nothing I find terribly …

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