What exacly IS "the Internet"? And how does my Tweet get from me to all the other people who are waiting breathlessly for it?

UCAN's affiliate New Media Rights is hosting a discussion forum on the future of media and journalism in San Diego.  Join in on the discussion now!

In this morning's keynote from the "CTIA Wireless & Entertainment 2008" expo, show, extravaganza, cabal, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon agreed to speak in vague generalities and put no meat on the open access or open networks bones. Each carrier talks about major caveats to its "open" policies, and each carrier has significant differences in how they define "open." So for now, think of "open" as the new marketing buzzword, the new "green" if you will. Look for the use of "open" to increase in use as a feel good marketing tool, and its meaning and substance to be inversely proportional.

Here's an article on the keynotes from FierceWireless, CTIA: Carriers talk "open" network but no clear definition

San Francisco Chronicle: Comcast is limiting bandwidth to 250 GB a month. It's a bad deal for consumers, says UCAN's Executive Director, Michael Shames. More.

The link found by UCAN, may be a faster way of finding the $10 "unbundled" DSL price that's advertised but a real chore to find!

TRAC, Volume 5, Issue 42 says: How To Sign Up For AT&T's "Naked DSL" - Until recently, consumers who wanted to buy DSL broadband service from AT&T without bundled local telephone service (known as "naked" DSL) didn't save much money versus buying DSL as part of the bundle. Thanks to conditions placed by the FCC on AT&T's merger
agreement with BellSouth, AT&T was forced to offer $10 unbundled DSL, though it was very hard for consumers to find
information about the deal and sign up. The service was also slow, 768 Kbps downstream and 128 Kbps upstream, versus traditional DSL's 3-6 Mbps downstream speeds. Over the past two months, AT&T has begun offering two new cheap "naked" DSL package in its 22-state service area. The "Express" plan offers 1.5 Mbps down/768 Kbps up speeds for $23.99 per month. The "Pro" plan offers 3.0 Mbps down/1.5 Mbps up for $28.99 per month. What's more, since telephone service is not required, consumers don't have to pay the myriad taxes and fees associated with a home phone line in addition to the monthly service charge for DSL and phone service. While AT&T doesn't heavily advertise
the two new plans, thanks to a tip from CNET.com, we have instructions on how consumers can sign up:

1) Call the AT&T Dry Loop department directly at 888-800-4095
(Note: This number may connect callers to the Ohio-only office.
If so, ask to be connected to the office serving your area.).

2) Second, ask to switch to "DSL Direct."

3) Finally if you have any problems with customer service, tell
them that it is a retention offer.

When TRAC called the Dry Loop department, we were told that there is no activation fee or service contract with the plan,
only a one-time fee of $49.99 to purchase the modem. If customers are unhappy with the speed of the service, AT&T they can discontinue their service without any additional charges. For consumer who want broadband service for web surfing and e-mail, but don't need the higher speeds of traditional DSL, cable modem, or fiber-based broadband services, AT&T's "naked" DSL could be a money-saver. Just don't expect AT&T to make it easy to find information about the service.

Link

(you can also see my local news interview on Iphone hacks, open networks, and cancelling your cell phone contract. Please share your thoughts on cracking the Iphone.)

The days of soldering parts together to unlock your iPhone are over.... unless you just enjoy soldering, and in that case, as you were. For everyone else, put your soldering guns away. Today, a San Francisco-based group is claiming to have developed software that will allow users to "unlock" their AT&T iPhones so they can be used on other networks. In the US, the only other GSM carrier is T-Mobile, but that gives you one more choice than you had before.

Perhaps the most important point to make is that there is a strong argument that using the software to unlock your iPhone is legal, as long as it is for personal use. Basic American copyright law protects the software code, or firmware that runs the Iphone and locks it to AT&T's network. Additional protections exist from the always controversial Digital Millenium Copyright Act (let's just say that if a laws appeared on celebrity gossip sites, the DMCA would be front and center most days). The DMCA offers additional protection to rights holders by restricting users of copyrighted material from circumventing technological protection measures intended to restrict access to the copyrighted material. This includes accessing content even for legitimate, fair uses of content. However, in November of 2006, the Copyright Office approved 6 exceptions to the DMCA "anti-circumvention" restrictions.

While there is nuance to discuss, and attorneys will appear on both sides, one of these exceptions clearly included provisioins allowing consumers to unlock their cellphones "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network."

"For the sole purpose" is the key phrase here. It indicates that you, for your personal need to use your iphone on a communication network other than AT&T's, can circumvent protections AT&T has embedded into its phone. On the other hand, you will not likely see a bunch of unlocked phones on Ebay in a few days, since circumventing technological protection measures in order to make them available for sale would not be viewed as for the "sole purpose of lawfully connecting..."

That said, there is a key grey area that will likely decide the future of unlocking your iphone. This is the concept of whether it is legal to distribute, for free, the code that allows users to unlock there phones. There will be a great deal of disagreement on this subject, but a good argument from attorney Bart Showalter suggests that if the software is narrowly focused on busting the network lock, it would likely fit into the anti-circumvention exception to the DMCA. In other words, if the Copyright Office granted users the right to unlock their cell phone for certain reasons, it would be an illogical contradiction to then say that distributing the means (software code) to exercise those rights is illegal. At the very least there is a basic argument to be made(though some IP lawyers will scream secondary liability a la DeCSS) that anyone distributing this is certainly not directly circumventing Iphone firmware, and is simply making available software that allows users to do something that the Copyright explicitly permitted.

Either way, the unlocking of the Iphone is proof positive that consumers demand networks that allow them to use the technology and software of their choice.

Check out these links as well

• Engadget story on Iphone crack
• Engadget Iphone crack legalities story
• PCWorld's article on DMCA challenges to Iphone hackers
• UCAN interview on Iphone hacks, open networks, and breaking your contract

Broadband Internet is apparently a class-based utility, a privilege of the wealthy and educated. There has been a lot of talk about the Pew Internet and American Life Project's release of its latest study on home broadband adoption. Some groups have used the opportunity to focus on immediate trends in racial, ethnic, age, and rural vs. urban adoption of broadband internet service. However, there are two larger, more important "big picture" issues that should not be ignored, and are essential to assessing the current broadband Internet situation in the United States.

1) The Internet is still a class based utility and service, readily available in the best quality to the wealthy and highly educated, and only marginally available to those who are poorer and less educated.

2) American broadband Internet service continues to lag behind the world in connection speeds, overall penetration of the population, and price.

The clearest divide in adoption of broadband among groups in the United States is along economic and educational lines. For instance, 76% of Americans with an annual income above $75,000 have broadband Internet connections, compared to only 30% of those with an income of $30,000 or less. As to education, 70% of Americans with a college degree have broadband Internet connections compared to 21% of those without a high school degree.

This highlights the fact that while there is legitimate concern about "net neutrality" (ensuring websites and services being treated fairly and equally by the network providers who connect websites and Internet services and their users) in terms of those who are already seated at the Internet table, there are still large gaps in the of the population not even connected to the Internet. While the Internet may not be a physical necessity like water, it is either quickly becoming, or already has become, like electricity, a social, cultural, and (perhaps most importantly) an economic necessity to be a full part of modern society in a developed country.

This is especially true for young people. Unfortunately, this gap in access for the economically and educationally underserved is eerily reminiscent of our two tiered, apartheid educational system.

Even taken as a whole, it is no secret that America is lagging behind broadband connection speeds and penetration rates worldwide. For instance the PEW study shows 71% of Americans have internet connections of any type, and only 47% have broadband connections. Another study from May of 2007, by ITIF, shows broadband penetration in the U.S. at similar levels, or .51 subscribers per household. The leading nations are South Korea with a rate .90, Iceland with a rate of .83, and the Netherlands with a rate of .73 per household. So the leading nations have broadband penetration rates higher than even the United States total Internet penetration rate.

The average broadband connection speed in the United States is 4.4(mbps) (DSL and Cable in the US are significantly slower than this), versus 61.0 in Japan, 45.6 in Korea, 21.7 in Finland, and 18.2 in Sweden.

And if you think users are paying premiums in these countries for higher speed broadband connections, think again. Cost per 1 mbps in the U.S. is $3.33. Cost in the countries listed above is as follows; Japan- $0.27, Korea- $0.45c, Finland- $2.77, and Sweden- $0.63.  Read More