Communication

The proposed rules, drafted by Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and his staff, would allow Internet service providers to charge companies different rates for faster connection speeds. Credit Daniel Rosenbaum for The New York Times

nytimes.com - by Edward Wyatt - April 23, 2014

WASHINGTON — The principle that all Internet content should be treated equally as it flows through cables and pipes to consumers looks all but dead.

The Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday that it would propose new rules that allow companies like Disney, Google or Netflix to pay Internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon for special, faster lanes to send video and other content to their customers.

Nets of Freedom creating mesh networks. Image: Strelka Institute / Flickr

wired.com - by Primavera De Filippi - January 2, 2014

The internet is weak, yet we keep ignoring this fact. So we see the same thing over and over again, whether it’s because of natural disasters like hurricanes Sandy and Katrina, wars like Syria and Bosnia, deliberate attempts by the government to shut down the internet (most recently in Egypt and Iran), or NSA surveillance.

After Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, several towns were cut off from humanitarian relief because delivering that aid depends on having a reliable communication network. In a country where over 90 percent of the population has access to mobile phones, the implementation of an emergency “mesh” network could have saved lives.

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submitted by Mike Kraft

Jason Hall of Stansell Electric, left, talks with project manager Daron Whitehead as Nashville Wire and other vendors help repair the electrical systems after floodwaters inundated the company in May 2010, destroying $1.2 million in inventory alone./ Dipti Vaidya / File / The Tennessean

tennessean.com - by J. J. Rosen - December 8, 2013

In May 2010, after 36 hours of continuous rain, Nashville was in serious trouble. The “Flood of 2010,” as it came to be known, created a disaster that affected almost everyone in the city. . .

. . . In 2010, the idea of servers and applications being remotely hosted in the cloud was relatively new, and mobile technology was not as prevalent as it is today. Combining mobile and cloud, small- and medium-size businesses can now afford to design and implement disaster-recovery and business-continuity plans that have the same features as their larger competitors.

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cfr.org - Council on Foreign Relations - June 2013

Overview

This CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force warns that "escalating attacks on countries, companies, and individuals, as well as pervasive criminal activity, threaten the security and safety of the Internet." The number of "state-backed operations continues to rise, and future attacks will become more sophisticated and disruptive," argues the Task Force report, Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet.

With the ideal vision of an open and secure Internet increasingly at risk, the Task Force urges the United States, with its friends and allies, "to act quickly to encourage a global cyberspace that reflects shared values of free expression and free markets."

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, AND TO DOWNLOAD THE REPORT)