FCC Deny Lack of Authority: [15th Apr 2010]

The FCC have hit back at claims that they lack the authority to regulate the internet by saying that this should not prevent them from carrying out their plan to expand internet services. The comments were made to a congressional panel this week. They have not said if they will attempt to reclassify the internet as a utility to get around the ruling; a move which is supported by some Democrats. The FCC have pointed out that their efforts in connection with the internet are consistent with the Communications Act, which they have been in charge of for some time. They also say that their lawyers are looking into the ruling to see what the full implications will be.

Some local phone and cable companies are expressing concerns that the stimulus funds are making it hard for them to compete for business in their own areas. In many cases the funds are being brought into areas where these companies already offer a service. These private companies say that they are less likely to upgrade their own systems while the Government is busy installing new networks. This could affect jobs in the industry they claim. Gary Shorman of Eagle Communications comments that it is unfair that government money is being used to harm existing private business. Government officials say that the money is going into areas where it is needed and where current networks lack sufficient capacity.

Verizon is to host a national disaster recovery exercise it one of its major facilities in an attempt to show how communications infrastructure can be restored following a catastrophic event. The scenario is that two planes collide overhead causing damage to Verizon's Ashburn campus and a nearby network field. The event will immediately activate the company's National Emergency Coordination Center which will coordinate the disaster recovery exercise. Dick Price from Verizon has commented that the best way for the company to test their emergency responses is to undertake training such as this.

The Library of Congress is to save and archive the collected works of Twitter, the users of which currently send more than 55 million messages each day. The library have said that the archiving is part of its embrace of digital culture and the musings of ordinary people. They have commented that Twitter has an immense impact on culture and history as evidenced by its use in political campaigns. Twitter will join other media in the Web Capture project at the library which already contains more material than all of the 21 million books in the library. Experts have expressed concerns that the knowledge their Tweets will be collected and kept, might alter the way people use the service.

Twitter is to launch a new service called Promoted Tweets which will add advertisements to the service in a similar way to that offered by Google. The first advertisers will be Starbucks, Virgin America and Best Buy. Advertisers have been hoping for a way to advertise on Twitter for some time and despite a $1bn valuation for the company, it has only recently begun to make money from the service by selling its Tweets to Google and Microsoft. The owners of Twitter say that they are concerned advertising could annoy their customers and point out they are exploring a number of ways to make money from Twitter.

A broadband consultant Craig Settles has joined together with a North Carolina broadband advocate Jay Ovittore to launch the Communities United for Broadband group. They hope to act as an alternative for communities who spent many hours and huge amounts of money vying for a Google broadband trial. They comment that the fact that Google had so many applications shows that the demand is there for super fast broadband. They suggest that these communities do it themselves. They have set up a Facebook page and will offer advice on how communities could do this as consultants. Many municipalities have built their own networks which are very successful. They didn't achieve the speeds of the Google trial, but do achieve more than what the government is proposing.