A device that prevents drivers from accessing text, email and Internet functions while driving will be available in Target stores starting mid-November, supplier Access2Communications said Friday. Called the TextBuster, the device is a small “brain box” module that plugs into a vehicle’s fuse panel below the dash and works in tandem with a smartphone app that sends a blocking signal to the user’s phone automatically, every time the user enters the vehicle, it said. The TextBuster will disable the data functions of the driver’s phone when the ignition is turned on without interfering with inbound and outbound calls or with GPS functions, it said. Two versions will be available, one for cars manufactured since 1996, another for older cars, it said.
Marriott International and its subsidiary, Marriott Hotel Services, will pay $600,000 to resolve an FCC investigation into whether Marriott intentionally interfered with and disabled Wi-Fi networks at a Tennessee convention center, the agency said Friday (http://fcc.us/1rRzKH2). Marriott employees had used containment features of a Wi-Fi monitoring system at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville to prevent individuals from connecting to the Internet via their own personal Wi-Fi networks, the agency said. At the same time, Marriott charged consumers, small businesses and exhibitors as much as $1,000 per device to access Marriott’s Wi-Fi network, the agency said. The actions violated Section 333 of the Communications Act, said the commission. “It is unacceptable for any hotel to intentionally disable personal hotspots while also charging consumers and small businesses high fees to use the hotel’s own Wi-Fi network,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc in a news release. “This practice puts consumers in the untenable position of either paying twice for the same service or forgoing Internet access altogether.” Marriott also agreed under a consent decree (http://bit.ly/1BDuFDj) to cease the unlawful use of Wi-Fi blocking technology and take steps to improve how it monitors and uses its Wi-Fi technology at Gaylord Opryland, the release said. Marriott must put in place a compliance plan and file compliance and usage reports with the bureau every three months for three years, including documentation of any use of access point containment features at any U.S. property that Marriott manages or owns, the release said. Marriott was not immediately available for comment.
At the end of two hours of discussion at Thursday’s FCC workshop on the economics of the net neutrality debate (WID Oct 3 p4), Chairman Tom Wheeler asked what economic model would assure the continued innovation by Internet startups that he said is key to the U.S. economy. In the back and forth that followed, Wheeler noted the role regulation played in supporting the Industrial Revolution. Responding to Wheeler’s question, Nicholas Economides, an economics professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said banning paid prioritization is key to supporting Internet startups. Others disagreed. The best way to sustain the innovation is “the regime that brought it, and that regime is one that’s worked very well,” said Thomas Hazlett, a Clemson University economics professor. What has never happened is the “radical principal of zero price” for access to infrastructure as edge providers want in opposing paid prioritization, said Economics Inc. Principal Hal Singer. That’s not necessarily true, said Christiaan Hogendorn, a Wesleyan University economics associate professor, citing the role unfettered access to U.S. highway and electricity systems played in the growth of businesses. And that, Wheeler said, “came only after regulations were imposed.”
The FCC stopped the 180-day shot clock on the review of Comcast buying Time Warner Cable, the commission said Friday in a letter to the companies involved in the deal and a related divestitute. Responses to information requests sent to Comcast, TWC and Charter Communications weren’t complete, the FCC said, and the commission needs time to analyze voluminous economic submissions by the companies. The commission also has pushed back the deadline for response comments on petitions to deny Comcast/TWC to Oct. 29, the letter said. In response to the incomplete information requests, the FCC is stopping the shot clock until Oct. 29, or until Commission staff has determined that the information responses are complete, “whichever is later,” the letter said.
There’s no national broadband market, said Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen in a meeting Tuesday with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and aide Clint Odom, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 14-57 Friday (http://bit.ly/ZBYXdY). Any assessment of whether Comcast’s proposed buy of Time Warner Cable hurts competition in broadband should examine the market at the local level, the filing said. Comcast and TWC serve distinct geographic areas, Cohen said. Critics arguing that Comcast would control too much of the broadband market after the deal are unfairly not including DSL and wireless broadband or using too high a speed threshold for defining broadband, Cohen said. “DSL and wireless do meet some consumers’ broadband needs for some uses, even if these technologies are not yet perfect substitutes for all consumers.” At a 10 Mbps broadband threshold, Comcast would control 40 percent of fixed connections after the transaction, while at a 25 Mbps threshold, that number increases by less than 1 percent, Cohen said.
A federal judge let bitcoin hardware manufacturer Butterfly Labs resume limited operations Thursday after a temporary shutdown following an FTC lawsuit against the company (case No. 4:14-cv-00815). The FTC is going after the company for delaying or failing to deliver bitcoin mining computers, rendering them useless (WID Sept 24 p1). Days later, the FTC also alleged the company had also used bitcoin mining equipment for its own profit before shipping and sought a more-permanent suspension of Butterfly’s business (WID Sept 30 p1). Thursday’s order in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, lets Butterfly Labs fulfill some outstanding orders. In a statement, Butterfly Labs called the decision “a step in the right direction.” The FTC’s “rush to judgment” has “severely damaged our reputation,” the company said. The company also repeated that the FTC’s allegations were “unsubstantiated.” The commission did not comment.
There is “every reason to believe” that the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions “will be consumed” by the ITU, said Bartlett Cleland, Institute for Policy Innovation resident scholar-tax and innovation policy, in a news release Thursday. Cleland cited Iran’s suggestion that the proposals of ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee be mandated upon approval by a simple majority of ICANN’s board. “The Obama administration’s view is not just being ignored, but essentially mocked, as authoritarian governments move to make ICANN another puppet of government,” he said. Cleland said if the U.S. fails to preserve Internet freedom, it could be forced to disconnect from the global network.
A petition being submitted to the FCC to update rules acting as barriers to competition and broadband investment will be discussed by USTelecom and CenturyLink officials at a media call Monday, said a news release from the groups Friday. Scheduled to be involved are Steve Davis, USTelecom board chairman and CenturyLink executive vice president-public policy and government affairs, and USTelecom CEO Walter McCormick.
Beginning with the Wednesday, Oct. 15, issue, we will unveil several new features in your daily delivery of Washington Internet Daily that will allow for quicker, easier navigation to articles of interest. We also are launching a brand-new Washington Internet Daily website connected to your daily email and PDF delivery. Going forward, your daily PDF will allow for one-click navigation from the table of contents or bookmarks to articles of interest. If you prefer, you also will be able to click on headlines in the daily cover email, then read the full article online. Look for more information on these improvements in the days ahead.
Alcatel Onetouch announced a $59 smartphone for AT&T’s prepaid GoPhone product line. The C1 will be available this month at national retailers and billed as an “ultra-affordable” pricing option “with a stylish design,” Alcatel said Thursday. Specs include a 3.5-inch Half-size Video Graphics Array touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera, 4 GB storage and 1.0 GHz dual-core processor running the Android 4.2 operating system.