Category: Open Internet

  • GoGo does not need to run “Man in the Middle Attacks” on YouTube

    Ars Technica mentioned in a post that GoGo, the primary “airplane Internet Access provider” is breaking HTTPS security with a fake certificate in order to prevent access to YouTube over HTTPS when using GoGo to access the Internet. Many are already pointing out that this damages all of Internet security by playing on a known…

  • Does the Internet need “governance”?

    It’s remarkable to me that there are now two powerful agencies fighting to “govern” the Internet – the ITU and the FCC. On any given day, it’s hard to tell whether they are on the same side or different sides. The ITU process apparently began in earnest with the World Summit for the Information Society…

  • The (word) Internet is dead. Long live Fiber!

    To me, this NYT article suggests that Susan Crawford “doesn’t get it” about the Internet, in a an amazingly extreme way (an “epic fail”). She focuses on a specific hardware technology (fiber), when in fact the whole point of the Internet was to focus on interoperability among ALL transport technologies and all end-to-end communications. She…

  • What The Internet Is, and Should Continue To Be

    Occasionally, people ask my perspective on the Internet, since I often object to confusing it with things like the telephone or Cable TV. Recently I composed a response that captures my perspective, as one of the participants in its genesis, and as an advocate for sustaining its fundamental initial design principles. I hope these words…

  • A response to Barbara van Schewick: code needs (only a little) help from the law

    Barbara van Schewick posted a really thoughtful analysis about how about application-specific vs. application-agnostic discrimination directly affects innovation, and looks at an actual example of a Silicon Valley startup. I think her points are right on, and I strongly support the rationale for resisting “application-specific” discrimination. In fact, Barbara’s point is the key to the…

  • Broadband vs. Open Internet, Open Internet scores a point

    FCC Chair Genachowski released a statement today to announce that he will put forward a proposal to his fellow commissioners “Preserving a Free and Open Internet”, and it has already been reported on the NYTimes online. It is possible to read Genachowski’s statement very, very carefully, and see a distinction between Internet and Broadband that…

  • A statement from various advocates for an Open Internet – why I signed on

    Today a relatively large and diverse group of advocates for the Open Internet filed a statement with the FCC under their notice of proposed rulemaking entitled Further Inquiry into Two Under-developed Issues in the Open Internet Proceeding. Here’s why I signed on early to support this statement, and why I hope you will support it,…