Netflix's Reed Hastings calls out weak net neutrality rules, 'reluctantly' pays ISP tolls

Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix has finally chimed in with his own statement about net neutrality and the deal his company struck with Comcast. As written in a blog post, the traditional standards recently overturned by a Verizon lawsuit (which prevent ISPs from restricting or meddling with data) are "important...but insufficient." As we noted when the deal happened, a peering agreement like the one Comcast and Netflix now have is not covered by existing network neutrality rules, but Hastings argues that in order for strong net neutrality to exist, it should be. While he says that in the short term Netflix is playing ball with ISPs like Comcast (and may make other, similar agreements in the future) to improve the experience for its customers, he hopes that those same companies will support "strong" net neutrality that lets Netflix connect to their networks with no fees (Open Connect).

Update: Comcast has responded to Hastings' blog post with a statement of its own (available in full after the break) from EVP David Cohen. If it's planning on responding to the Netflix exec's call to support strong net neutrality, it isn't doing so yet, saying that open internet rules were never designed to deal with peering and interconnection. According to the ISP, providers like Netflix have always paid a "fair price" for their connection to the internet and see their agreement as a reflection of "the effectiveness of the market as a mechanism to deal with these matters."

Hastings specifically calls out the argument made by executives of the big ISPs (Verizon) that Netflix is dumping data (aka, responding to requests by users of said ISPs), and said he's asked what would happen if Netflix changed its service to upload as much as it downloads. Their silence in response to his Spotify-style peer-to-peer proposal, despite allowing such no-fee interconnects between their own networks, "isn't sensible." One specific example is because they don't pay fees to backup services that only receive large uploads from their networks.

Hastings didn't reveal specifics about Netflix's deal with Comcast, but said ISPs demand "roughly the same arbitrary tax" from middlemen like Cogent and Level 3. Level 3's general counsel Michael Mooney recently published a similar blog post calling what the ISPs were doing a "game of chicken" that they've been playing for years.

Post by Reed Hastings.There has been no company that has had a stronger commitment to openness of the Internet than Comcast. We supported the FCC's Open Internet rules because they struck the appropriate balance between consumer protection and reasonable network management rights for ISPs. We are now the only ISP in the country that is bound by them.

"The Open Internet rules never were designed to deal with peering and Internet interconnection, which have been an essential part of the growth of the Internet for two decades. Providers like Netflix have always paid for their interconnection to the Internet and have always had ample options to ensure that their customers receive an optimal performance through all ISPs at a fair price. We are happy that Comcast and Netflix were able to reach an amicable, market-based solution to our interconnection issues and believe that our agreement demonstrates the effectiveness of the market as a mechanism to deal with these matters.

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Source: Netflix Blog

More Coverage: Level 3 Blog, BTIG Research, Wall Street Journal

Tags: comcast, hdpostcross, netflix, netneutrality Next: Microsoft aims to power up PC and mobile games with DirectX 12 .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Court rules that Pandora won't pay higher royalties to songwriters

Pandora has been fighting tooth and nail against potential songwriting royalty increases, and it appears that this tenacity is largely paying off. A court has ruled that the streaming radio service should pay the same 1.85 percent royalty rate that it has paid for years, resisting both Pandora's call for 1.7 percent (like traditional radio) and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' (ASCAP) demand for 3 percent. Details of the ruling are under a court seal, so the motivations behind the decision aren't yet clear. However, ASCAP is more than a little upset by its loss; it sees the verdict as proof that full-scale licensing reform is necessary to "reflect the realities" of modern music. Whether or not that's true, the Society may have inadvertently sabotaged its own case. It pointed to iTunes Radio's higher royalty rate as a model for fair compensation, but Apple is willing to make little to no profit from its music services -- ASCAP may have unintentionally suggested that its proposal wasn't realistic.

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Via: Billboard

Source: ASCAP

More Coverage: Wall Street Journal

Tags: ascap, internet, internetradio, mobilepostcross, music, pandora, radio, royalty, ruling, songwriter, streaming Next: Torrent front end Popcorn Time made streaming movies free and easy, so of course it's gone .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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California Court Rules In Favor Of Using Cellphone Maps While Driving

Good news, Californians. You can now, once again, use Google Maps on your phone while driving. That is, legally. Until this court ruling, map use was in a shady legal gray area.

This comes two years after a Fresno, Calif., man was ticketed for looking at a map on his iPhone while stuck in construction. He was looking for an alternative route. As you do. The cop issued the $165 ticket under a law that prohibits listening and talking on cellphones while driving.

The man thankfully challenged the law and won.

The 5th District Court of Appeal reversed the ticket on the ground that the law specifically limits the use of “listening and talking” without the use of a hands-free device, but does not apply to other uses of the phone.

Next up, Californian man challenges traffic ticket issued for playing Threes while driving.

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South Korea rules smartphone users can delete Android bloatware

In a move that we can only hope inspires other mobile regulators, the South Korean government has struck a major blow against Android bloatware. Yonhap News reports that Korea's Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MISP) is bringing the hammer down on preinstalled Android apps, introducing new guidelines that will enable users to delete them. Carriers won't be forced to make apps related to WiFi, user settings, NFC or an app store removable, but even with core services excluded, it puts almost 60 apps installed by the country's three biggest providers at risk. Samsung and LG won't escape the judgment either, with more than half of their 40 default apps facing a less-than-certain future.

The ministry said preinstalled apps are an "inconvenience" to users and cause "unfair competition" between operators and carriers, so it asked them to offer detailed information to users on how much storage their preinstalled apps take up. It also intends to apply the same rules to Google's suite of apps and services, which includes Gmail and Hangouts, although the regulator is still in talks with the search giant. Samsung, LG, SK Telecom and others have until April before the rules come into effect, which could mean Korean users will be able to tweak apps installed on their new Galaxy S 5, should the device launch in the coming months.

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Via: ZDNet

Source: MSIP

Tags: android, apps, bloatware, google, mobilepostcross, MSIP, south korea Next: Apple gushes on 30 years of making Macs .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Court Decision Could Change Rules for Online Price Comparisons

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3 Rules to Making Your Site Pinterest Friendly

Author: Courtney Gordner
Published: January 06, 2014 at 11:55 pm ShareTweet With every social media site comes the opportunity to market yourself and your product in a new way. Pinterest is no different, as long as you know what you are doing. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, you cannot just talk up your site and add a connecting link to Pinterest. Pinterest is an image driven site. It is not organized by fan pages, but by style boards. It is a completely different platform for social media; therefore, it has different rules for directing traffic to your personal site. In order to get the most out of Pinterest, your site needs to be Pinterest friendly. You must adapt to this site, because it will not adapt to you. Below are some tips and ground rules for making your site as Pinterest friendly as possible. ImagesAs previously mentioned, Pinterest is all about images. However, not every image is compatible with Pinterest. For example, Flash will not work with Pinterest, so if you have a Flash slideshow of images across your site, they will not be pinnable to any boards you may have on Pinterest. Instead use an HTML5 slideshow. According to some, HTML5 is not only Pinterest compatible, but more user friendly as well. Once you are sure the platform you’re using to display your images is compatible with Pinterest, make sure the images themselves meet Pinterest standards. In order for your site or blog to be shared by a follower on Pinterest, it must contain an image that is at least 100 x 200 pixels. Depending on where you want your image to be on Pinterest, whether it’s your profile picture, a cover image, a thumbnail, or a pin, there are regulation sizes you need to stick to.  Pin It!While this one seems obvious, it is worth mentioning that you are more likely to have images from your site on Pinterest if you include a Pin It button on your page. The easier it is for a viewer to share an image or idea, the more likely they will actually share it. If it takes too much work for a viewer to share a cool idea, they will forget about it and move on. We live in a fast-paced world and, if you can’t keep up, you better believe you will be left behind. The idea of adding a Pin It button to your website may scare some of the less tech-savvy individuals out there, but Pinterest actually has an application to help you install a Pin It button, a follow button, and widgets. You can do more than just add the Pin It button to the bottom of you page as well. You can also have the Pin It button appear when viewers hover over any images on your page that you have set up to link to Pinterest. Image DescriptionsNot everyone in this world focuses on the details, but a good amount of Pinteresters are all about details. While Pinterest is not a text heavy site, you do have control over the descriptions you include with your images that will follow them to the boards on Pinterest. A memorable description that captures not only the image, but its connection to you and your site will help bring pinners back to you in the future. Another important thing to keep in mind is your meta tags. A meta tag is the description that follows the HTML information for your images. Pinterest will grab your meta tags before they include the description you’ve written along with the image. You can ensure that an image will not be pinned with a description that has no relevance to your site by writing them yourself. ExampleLet’s take a look at this site and determine if it is as Pinterest friendly as possible or, if not, where it can be improved. As you can see from the home page, there are multiple images that encompass ideas shared by many individuals: science, spirit, body, family. While I cannot access the pixel size from searching for image properties, if these images in particular included a Pin It link, there is a good chance a lot of people would connect to at least one of these ideals and add the image to one of their boards. This site also offers a photo gallery, showing beautiful buildings and landscapes that embody total relaxation. Anyone thinking about a peaceful vacation to Florida would love to pin some of these images.  The one downfall for the images provided on the 12 Keys Rehab site is that most of the people who would want to pin these images will most likely not be interested in going to rehabilitation. The images absolutely give off the feeling of comfort and relaxation that 12 Keys offers its visitors, but those pinning about drug abuse probably aren’t looking for these kinds of images. Additionally, those looking for relaxing images probably don’t want a connection to drug and alcohol addiction. If this site could find the right audience on Pinterest, by adding a Pin It button and using the right description for their targeted viewers, the images have great potential for aiding in the use of Pinterest.      About this article Article Author: Courtney Gordner

Courtney Gordner is a blogger/journalist who loves to write. While she enjoys writing about a variety of topics, internet marketing and social media are her favorites. You can read more from her on her blog, Talk Viral or connect with her on Twitter, …

Courtney Gordner's author page — Author's Blog

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US judge rules warrantless gadget searches at the border aren't unconstitutional

A United States district judge has ruled that gadget searches upon crossing into the US aren't a breach of the First and Fourth Amendments. In 2010, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Press Photographers and grad student Pascal Abidor challenged the 2008 ruling that authorizes unwarranted device search-and-seizures, saying that they exist to counteract protected speech and certain confidentiality privileges. However, district judge Edward Korman remarks that because the chance of the searches is so low (he estimates odds of less than five in a million, although the government's count has been disputed) there aren't any grounds for dismissing the rulings.

He further states that this is no different than having your baggage or person examined before crossing into the US, and that the government simply doesn't have enough resources to inspect the devices of everyone who enters the country. Most worrying however is when Korman says that it's "foolish, if not irresponsible" that the plaintiffs would store sensitive data on their gadgets in the first place. The ACLU is considering appealing the decision but attorney Catherine Crump tells the New York Times that for now the status quo remains, and in many areas of the country, "the government is free...to conduct all types of electronic device searches without reasonable suspicion."

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NY Judge Rules NSA Phone Record Collection Is Legal

. “The right to be free from searches and seizures is fundamental, but not absolute,” New York’s Judge William Pauley wrote.

This stands in direct contrast to a decision earlier this month declaring the very same program is likely unconstitutional. “We are pleased with the decision,” said Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr.

In essence, Pauley was convinced that countermeasures to investigate terror plots justified mass collection of data.

The government learned from its mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program — a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data.

He went a bit further, arguing that collection from private firms was likely more invasive, yet few consumers care. The government, moreover, has only had isolated instances of abuse.

Every day, people voluntarily surrender personal and seemingly-private information to trans-national corporations, which exploit that data for profit. Few think twice about it, even though it is far more intrusive than bulk telephony metadata collection. There is no evidence that the government has used any of bulk telephony metadata it collected for any purpose other than investigating and disrupting terrorist attacks. While there have been unintentional violations of guidelines, those appear to stem from human error and the incredibly complex computer programs that support this vital tool. And once detected, those violations were self-reported and stopped.

As I’ve noted before, ultimately, these decisions will likely have to be decided by the Supreme Court. Or Congress could decide to end bulk collection sooner.

The short of it is that, practically speaking, this decision won’t mean much, but could provide compelling arguments for the Supreme Court, should it decide on the controversial practice.

Until then, please have a wonderful holiday weekend and feel free to enjoy this joke.

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Federal Judge Rules NSA’s Phone Metadata Program Likely Unconstitutional

A district court judge has declared the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone metadata likely unconstitutional. While civil liberties groups are hailing the ruling as a victory, Judge Richard Leon has stayed his ruling pending government appeal.

The ruling is a legal setback for the NSA, and its defenders who have maintained that the program is at once legal, and an important tool for protecting national security. In his ruling, Judge Leon casts doubt on both counts.

Regarding its legality, the judge argues that past precedent used to legally support the program is outdated, rendering it obsolete in the face of modern technology and smartphone ubiquity. He also maintains that the government consistently argues that the program is needed for quick searching at a moment’s notice, but fails to back that up with real-world examples.

The summation of his argument is that the metadata program does clash with protections included in the Fourth Amendment.

Edward Snowden, the source of leaked documents that brought the program to the public eye, released a statement following the ruling:

I acted on my belief that the NSA’s mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts

The Department of Justice, meanwhile, claims to be “reviewing the court’s decision.”

You can read the full ruling here.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

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