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Telecommunications Free (but censored) wireless Internet for the Land of the Free
Telecommunications Free (but censored) wireless Internet for the Land of the Free | Free (but censored) wireless Internet for the Land of the Free |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Wednesday, 03 December 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 The FCC's proposal says there must be a network-based mechanism "That filters or blocks images and text that constitute obscenity or pornography and, in context, as measured by contemporary community standards and existing law, any images or text that otherwise would be harmful to teens and adolescents. For purposes of this rule, teens and adolescents are children 5 through 17 years of age".Featured Whitepaper
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And if your paid wireless service on this spectrum comes with a download quota, don't expect to switch to the free service when you hit the limit for the month: "If a broadband user pays any compensation for any broadband service directly or indirectly affiliated with the licensee, the user does not receive free service." So keep your fingers crossed that if there is a quota, the successful bidder will cap speeds to match the free service rather than imposing excess data charges. The FCC proposal appears to be related to - or at least bears similarity with - one floated by M2Z Networks to provide "free, fast, and family-friendly wireless broadband Internet connectivity to at least 95 percent of the US population." M2Z has previously said it would provide 384/128 Kbps service ("competitive with low-end DSL") for free, funded by revenue from location-sensitive advertising. The paid service would run at 3 Mbps. The FCC proposal requires data rates of at least 768 Kbps downstream for the free service. Rather than paying upfront for a licence for the required spectrum, M2Z wants to pay the government an ongoing fee based on subscription revenues. The company is led by Milo Medin, who was co-founder of cable Internet provider @Home. Its backers are some big names from the venture capital industry: Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Charles River Ventures, and Redpoint Ventures. |
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