Wireless Carterfone

Remember how the Internet community stopped SOPA?

Come on out to Irish Whiskey this Thursday at 8pm for the official launch of the Internet Defense League (IDL), a network of people and organizations committed to defending the open Internet. The goal of IDL is to sound the alarm quickly to millions of users whenever the Internet is in peril.

Is it working? Evaluating and assessing broadband policy

A by-invitation experts’ workshop

New America Foundation

September 19-21, 2012

In pushing to remove access to tethering applications on some phones, Verizon Wireless may be violating openness rules attached to spectrum licenses that the company purchased in 2008. But weeks later, federal regulators have still not ruled on the alleged violation or taken action against the cell phone company.

Lately, cell phone companies have been trying hard to convince us that we control the airwaves. T-Mobile recently asked, "What do you want from your wireless company?" Verizon says we can "Rule The Air" with their service. These ads ignore that the airwaves already belong to the public, and that we are losing control, not gaining.

On the eve of the Future of the Internet Town Hall in Albuquerque, NM, the Open Technology Initiative and Media Literacy Project have co-authored an essay reminding wireless carriers who truly rules the air.

How Cell Phone “Customization” Undermines End-Users by Redefining Ownership

Chip on Phone Overwrites User-Preferred Software -- Re-installs Original Firmware.

[October 13, 2010 UPDATE: OTI has released this follow-up analysis concerning the policy implications of mobile device lock down.]

Yesterday, some T-Mobile stores began selling its newest mobile device, the G2, an Android-based smart phone originally slated for an October 6 release while AT&T is slated to release it later in the year.

The lack of wired and wireless broadband coverage in much of rural America is a persistent problem that Internet service providers sometimes suggest is caused by actual or proposed federal regulation, such as the Federal Communication Commission’s Open Internet policy principles.