p2pnet World Headlines – June 17, 2009
Mark-up on text messages 4,900 per cent: Expert Montreal Gazette
The mark-up on some text messages is 4,900 per cent, according to a Canadian computer scientist who testified before U.S. senators on Tuesday. The consumer mark-up on some text messages is an estimated 4,900 per cent, according to a leading Canadian computer scientist who testified before U.S. senators on Tuesday. Srinivasan Keshav, Canada Research Chair in tetherless computing at the University of Waterloo, told lawmakers probing text messaging rates and the state of competition in the wireless telecommunications industry that the maximum cost of a single text message “very unlikely” exceeds 0.3 cents. In Canada, the large cellphone companies charge pay-per-use texters 15 cents to send a text message and, beginning next month, Rogers will join Bell and Telus with an additional charge of 15 cents to receive a text message… [Comment: A Must Read. Also see surfer's SMS Rip-off.]
Cellphone users to get extra protection under new Quebec legislation Montreal Gazette
Consumers stuck in three-year contracts with their cellphone providers can expect relief from unilateral changes, such as sudden increases in their text messaging charges, and less burdensome exit penalties under Bill 60, presented in the Quebec National Assembly Tuesday. [Comment: Additional coverage here: Consumer protection bill restricts automatic renewal of contracts and limits penalties against consumers http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/quebec-cracking-down-on-cell-carriers/article1184775/. And stay tuned for a p2pnet special on this.]
Verizon and AT&T deny collusion on texting prices Reuters
U.S. wireless carriers Verizon Communications and AT&T took issue with assertions that they colluded in setting prices for text messages, saying on Tuesday that prices for most customers had fallen and the market was competitive.
Bell, Rogers, Telus to launch mobile payment service CBC
Canada’s three main wireless carriers are planning to launch a mobile payment service on Monday, one that will allow their customers to send, request and receive money via their mobile phones. [Comment: This will create billions of dollars in transaction fees, and definately something worth exploiting by some Russian kids 
. These Telcom's better have a no hassle money replacement policy in place.]
B.C. family finds ‘explicit’ videos on new Bell Canada cellphone Nanaimo Daily News
A Victoria couple were shocked to discover sexually explicit videos on what they thought was a new cellphone. “It’s pornography. There’s no question about it,” said Wade Greenwood about the “very explicit” content he found. On May 30, he found several photographs of strangers on the phone and called Bell. He was told that a previous owner had likely put the pictures on the phone, which is normally cleared of content if returned. Then on Monday evening, he found a pair of one-minute explicit videos. The phone’s history indicates they were downloaded on April 23, before he bought it. Before these phones are restocked, the company’s policy is to check for and remove any kind of stored content, she said. “In this case, it appears our process broke down, We are investigating to determine exactly what went wrong and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” [Comment: A similar incident has also been found by a person who bought a "new" Bell Mobile here: http://forums.bell.ca/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1377 "*There are text messages on the phone from the previous user. The conversation thread talks about loving each other and hurry home", Plus more. Makes me wonder how many personal and private messages and intimate pictures are leaked from Bell on these USED phones that Bell is selling to people as NEW!]
US Senate poised to investigate carrier handset monopoly TG Daily
The US Senate is reportedly preparing to investigate a number of exclusive relationships between carriers and handset manufacturers. Four legislators – including former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry – recently informed the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) of their intention to hold a hearing that will help determine if “exclusivity agreements” effectively limit a consumer’s choice of handsets.
Italy’s antitrust pressures T.Italia over access Reuters
Italy’s antitrust regulator said competition was key in fixed-line telecoms, even if that meant a costly separation of the network, prompting Telecom Italia to say it has already taken steps to open up its grid. The Italian competition authority has suggested a part sale of Telecom Italia’s network, but the country’s former monopoly and largest operator, which relies on the grid for the bulk of its earnings, has repeatedly ruled out such a move.
Manitoba Tel urges looser telecom ownership rules CanWest
Ownership restrictions that prevent foreign players from buying or holding majority stakes in Canadian telecom companies are stifling competition and should be changed, the chief executive of Manitoba Telecom Services said on Tuesday… Canada’s telecom landscape is currently dominated by three main players: BCE Inc, Telus Corp and Rogers Communications. Canadians have long complained that service fees for mobile phones and other telecom services are too high because the market is ruled by the Big Three.
Nortel CEO ordered to explain bonus payments Ottawa Citizen
The chief executive officer of Nortel Networks Corp., has been summoned to appear before a House of Commons committee Thursday to explain how he and other senior managers qualified for millions of dollars in bonus payments as pensioners and employees were having their benefits cut or delayed while the company restructures under bankruptcy protection. [Comment: Its "Market Forces"]
Britain proposes landline tax to boost broadband access CBC
The British government has proposed levying an $11 annual tax on telephone landlines in order to extend fast broadband access to the whole country. The proposal is included in a report, authored by British Communications Minister Lord Stephen Carter of Barnes, that outlines Britain’s digital future. [Per the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8102756.stm: The report also includes a pledge to curb unlawful file sharing by giving regulator Ofcom new powers to identify persistent pirates. The main points outlined in the report include: • a three-year plan to boost digital participation • universal access to broadband by 2012 • fund to invest in next generation broadband • digital radio upgrade by 2015 • liberalisation of 3G spectrum • legal and regulatory attack on digital piracy • support for public service content partnerships • changed role for Channel 4 • consultation on how to fund local, national and regional news • £130m of BBC licence fee to pay for ITV regional news]
Committee grills FCC nominee Variety
The Senate Commerce Committee put President Obama’s nominee to head the FCC, Julius Genachowski, on notice in his confirmation hearing Tuesday that it plans to keep an eagle eye on the agency after what Sen. Jay Rockefeller described as years of policymaking that “shortchanged consumers and the public interest.” The 90-minute hearing was mostly a lovefest for Genachowski, a close friend of Obama’s and a former FCC staffer… “Let me be very clear about the challenge before you,” Rockefeller told Genachowski. “Fix this agency, or we will fix it for you. Prove to us that the FCC is not battered beyond repair.”
Lord Steyn, a former Law lord, is calling for the government to abandon its national ID card scheme because it is an unacceptable invasion of privacy and will not help to solve the various problems they keep claiming it will solve. He outlines the different claims made by the government in favour of ID cards. First we were told they would fight terrorism, then we were told they would help protect our identities – which al Qaeda terrorists were trying to steal. Finally the focus has been shifted to foreigners – non-EU citizens will be the first group required to carry the cards.
US gov asked Twitter to stay up for Iran protests The Register
On Monday, Twitter delayed a scheduled upgrade so that its micro-blogging service would not be down during daylight hours in Iran, where Tweets have fueled protests against the disputed presidential election. And according to press reports, the delay was requested by the US State Department… A State Department spokesman told the news service that the Department had been in touch with Twitter throughout the weekend, but did not specifically say that a downtime delay was discussed.
US urges Vietnam to free lawyer BBC
The US government has said it was “deeply concerned” by the arrest in Vietnam of activist lawyer Le Cong Dinh and has called for his release. The Paris-based group, Reporters Without Borders, also called for his immediate release, noting his work in defending bloggers and activists. Mr Dinh was arrested on 13 June on charges of “distributing propaganda against the state”. Officials said he was arrested over his defence of pro-democracy activists. They also said he was arrested over his use of the internet to express his views.
Official release of “Keykeriki” open source wireless keyboard sniffer Security Focus
Hi everyone, i just like to announce officially the release of our wireless keyboard sniffer Keykeriki. An addition to the official press release; Website: http://www.remote-exploit.org/Keykeriki.html, Video with some demonstration available on website as well. The first lot of pre-fab PCBs will arrive until the end of this week…. Dreamlab Technologies and remote-exploit.org develop the first open 27Mhz wireless keyboard sniffer. It sniffs and records the signal of wireless keyboards and demonstrates their security risk level. And it can be used to demonstrate hacking-attacks for educational purpose.
Cyberwar guide for Iran elections BoingBoing
Yishay sez, “The road to hell is paved with the best intentions (including mine). Learn how to actually help the protesters and not the gov’t in Iran.” The purpose of this guide is to help you participate constructively in the Iranian election protests through Twitter….”
Ahmadinijad sucks at Photoshop BoingBoing
[No words. The story is all in the pictures.]
Japan Makes Private Copying Illegal TechDirt
A new copyright law has been passed that specifically says that private, non-commercial copying is infringing (via Cybeardjm). This really isn’t all that surprising, given that Japan has also been pushed on copyright extension and a recent court ruling found that uploading your own content for personal storage could be infringement. Still, it’s yet another victory for entertainment industry lobbyists who will do anything possible to pass laws to protect old business models.
Vegas paper gets subpoena to ID online commenters CTV
A Las Vegas newspaper says it has been served a federal grand jury subpoena seeking information about readers who posted comments on the paper’s website. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday that its editor, Thomas Mitchell, plans to fight the request, which the newspaper received after reporting on a federal tax fraud case against business owner Robert Kahre.
EFF Busts Bogus Internet Subdomain Patent EFF
Patent Busting Project Wins Another Victory for Developers and Innovators. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has announced that it will revoke an illegitimate patent on Internet subdomains as a result of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) Patent Busting Project campaign. U.S. Patent No. 6,687,746, now held by Hoshiko, LLC, claimed to cover the method of automatically assigning Internet subdomains, like “action.eff.org” for the parent domain “eff.org.” Previous patent owner Ideaflood used this bogus patent to demand payment from website hosting companies offering personalized domains, such as LiveJournal, a social networking site where each of its three million users may have their own subdomain.
W3C launches appeal to scupper Apple patent The Register
All your updates are belong to Cupertino – The W3C, custodians of web standards, have launched an appeal for prior art to contest an Apple patent that appears to cover any kind of automated updating procedure, including the Widget standard on which the group is working. The patent, filed in 1995 and awarded in 1998, and which Apple revealed to the W3C in March, covers an application contacting a central server to see if a new version is available, and downloading the replacement if it is. As such it would appear to cover most of the automated updating systems commonly in use today, though the W3C is most concerned with the impact it’s going to have on the forthcoming widget standards.
Microsoft sues family over alleged click fraud The Register
Canadian crackdown a first – Microsoft has filed its first-ever lawsuit over click fraud, seeking $750,000 in damages from a Canada-based trio who allegedly orchestrated a massive online scam via its pay-per-click search ads. [Additional: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/06/16/bc-microsoft-cliick-fraud-lawsuit-vancouver.html]
Branson backs down on piracy The Inquirer
Virgin on three strikes law – RICHARD BRANSON’S news of a deal he cut with Universal Music that would allow legal downloads from his Virgin ISP outfit was lacking the details of another accommodation he also made with Universal on so-called ‘piracy’. Beardie promised that if the music industry identified a filesharer then Virgin will stuff up the user’s Internet connection by turning it on and off for a bit… The move appears to be a legal challenge waiting to happen. The EU has opposed doing anything to filesharers unless there is a court order.
Text-message fees recommended for antitrust scrutiny LA Times
The chairman of a Senate panel on antitrust issues on Tuesday called on the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department to scrutinize competitiveness in the cellphone industry, pointing to a 100% increase in some text messaging charges by four companies that control most of the market.
CSIRO pursues WiFi royalties Australian IT
Australia’s top science agency has started the second major phase of its program to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars worth of royalty payments from its patented and ubiquitous WiFi technology. Having won its long-running legal battle against 13 major electronic equipment manufacturers including Microsoft, Dell, Intel and Hewlett-Packard in US courts in April, the CSIRO has started moving against what it believes to be the remainder of the electronics industry.
ISP Dragged to Court for Refusing to Block The Pirate Bay Torrent Freak
After several victories in Danish courts, the entertainment industry is now trying to get The Pirate Bay blocked in Norway. The country’s largest Internet provider ‘Telenor’ is now being dragged to court by IFPI, after it refused an earlier request to disable customer access to the world’s most prominent tracker. [Additional: http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=26330 and
http://www.pcworld.com/article/166814/battle_against_file_sharing_starts_in_norway.html]
June, 2009
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
June 17th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Quebec took it into their own hands, because the federal government was not taking care of the wireless industry for years, letting them develop business models based on gouging customers.
If I see Quebec do more things right, I will vote “yes” on the next referendum to separate Quebec from Canada. After all, Canada recognized NATO-orchestrated Kosovo independence, opening the possibility that Canada itself does not have to stay as is.
June 17th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
[i]“Canadian crackdown a first – Microsoft has filed its first-ever lawsuit over click fraud”[/i]
Didn’t this company also accuse multitudes of websites (including P2PNET) of click-fraud?
June 17th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Google did, not MS (I think)
June 17th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
@RW-1, I am wondering just how realistic this proposed consumer law is. And yes, the way Telecom is going and the promise Marloise made to hold a series of referendums last week, Telecom could be used as a yes/no platform. Keep in mind that the bloc want their own CRTC. This may not be good for Quebec in the long haul on the neutrality front or copyright front. I stand divided.
@RW-2, RW-3 is correct