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Old 29-07-22, 06:25 AM   #1
JackSpratts
 
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Default Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - July 30th, 22

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July 30th, 2022




Bill to Boost Semiconductor Industry Passes Key Senate Test
Kevin Freking

The Senate on Tuesday advanced a $280 billion bill designed to boost the semiconductor industry in the United States and to accelerate high tech research that backers say will be critical to the economy in future decades.

The Senate needed 60 votes to advance the bill and the vote was 64-32. The legislation is now on a glidepath to final passage in the Senate, likely on Wednesday. The House is also expected to take up the package this week.

The White House has led support for the bill, along with industry leaders who say government subsidies are necessary to compete with other nations that are also spending billions of dollars to lure manufacturers. They say the pandemic has exposed the dangers to the economy and to national security of relying too heavily on foreign-made computer chips.

The bill provides about $52 billion in grants and other incentives for the semiconductor industry as well as a 25% tax credit for those companies that build chip plants, or fabs, in the U.S. The cost of the tax break is projected to be about about $24 billion over 10 years. The bill also authorizes about $200 billion to enhance scientific research over the same timeframe.

The bill attracted support from lawmakers in both parties who say the investment is critical to U.S. innovation and staying ahead of economic rivals in coming decades, namely China.

“I firmly believe that passing this bill will be a turning point for American leadership in this century,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “The benefits of this legislation will reverberate across the country for years and decades to come.”

The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the bill would increase deficits by about $79 billion over 10 years. Critics have objected to the spending called for in the bill either as misplaced or excessive.

“At a time when the working families of this country are falling further and further behind while the very rich are getting much richer, let us get our priorities right,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell led a group of 17 Republicans senators who voted to limit debate and advance the bill. While some Republicans have voiced concerns about the spending in the bill, others have emphasized the need to address national security vulnerabilities resulting from the U.S. reliance on plants in Taiwan and South Korea for the most advanced computer chips.

“We are not used to providing these kinds of financial incentives to businesses, but when it costs 30 percent less to build these manufacturing facilities across the seas in Asia and our access to that supply chain is potentially jeopardized by very real threats, it is a necessary investment for us to make,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Schumer said in an interview with The Associated Press that without the federal government making an investment in chip manufacturing and scientific research, “our economy would fade and the prospects of good paying jobs in America would shrink.”

“It’s not chatted about like some other things that are more immediate, but this is going to change America for the better in a very real way and be regarded as a turning point where America said, ‘We can compete and we can win,’ instead of running away,” Schumer said.
https://apnews.com/article/technolog...1ed4163cfd1b06





Two of Europe's Biggest Internet Satellite Companies are Merging to Take on Starlink

OneWeb and Eutelsat plan to combine their fleets.
Kris Holt

Internet satellite operators OneWeb and Eutelsat are planning to merge in the hopes of becoming a stronger rival to SpaceX's Starlink. The merger, which is subject to approval from regulators and Eutelsat shareholders, is expected to close by mid-2023 and it values OneWeb at $3.4 billion. Shareholders of OneWeb and Eutelsat will each own half of the combined company.

Eutelsat has a fleet of 36 geostationary orbit satellites. These will be combined with OneWeb's cluster of low-earth orbit satellites, which can provide internet access from the skies. OneWeb currently has 428 satellites in orbit of a planned 648 in its first-generation network.

OneWeb and Eutelsat expect to have combined revenues of €1.2 billion ($1.56 billion) in the 2022-23 fiscal year. Eutelsat chair Dominique D’Hinnin and CEO Eva Berneke will remain in those positions in the merged entity. OneWeb investor Sunil Bharti Mittal will become co-chairman.

The merger comes after OneWeb stumbled in its bid to become a viable competitor to Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper. OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2020 as it sought a buyer. The UK government and Mittal's Bharti Global each paid $500 million for a 45 percent stake in OneWeb. The company secured additional funding in early 2021 to launch hundreds of satellites.

More recently, OneWeb was caught in the crossfire between Russia and the West following the former's invasion of Ukraine. UK sanctions prompted Russia to block launches of OneWeb satellites — it demanded that the UK sell its stake in OneWeb and wanted assurances the satellites wouldn't be used for military purposes. OneWeb ended up turning to its rival SpaceX to launch the remainder of its first-gen satellites.

After the expected merger, the UK will retain a "special share" in OneWeb as well as exclusive rights over the company. These grant the government a significant say in national security controls over the network and veto rights over certain decisions, such as the location of OneWeb's headquarters.
https://www.engadget.com/oneweb-eute...151433993.html





Regulators Fine Frontier $5M and Order ‘Reckless’ Fiberoptic Work in CT Halted
Luther Turmelle

Connecticut utility regulators have ordered Frontier Communications to pay a $5 million fine for practices associated with the “reckless”installation of fiberoptic cable around the state, and demanded the Norwalk-based telecom company to halt the work.

In a notice e-mailed to Frontier executives on Thursday, officials with Connecticut’s Public Utilities Reguatory Authority said they believe the company is “jeopardizing public safety through reckless and inappropriate underground installations in the public right-of-way.”

A PURA spokesman said the civil penalty can be appealed by the company.

“The authority’s inquiry into Frontier’s installation activities indicates that Frontier and its contractors have been “deploying fiberoptic cables in the public right-of-way using inappropriate design and construction standards and specifications, which has resulted, and will continue to result, in damage to underground natural gas and electric distribution facilities,” the 9-page notice said.

“These actions put at risk the health and safety of both the public at large and the workers involved,” the order said in part.

PURA’s cease and desist order requires the company to stop “all underground installations until Frontier demonstrates to the Authority’s satisfaction that the Company can and will comply with all applicable rules and regulations.”

The notice said “Frontier and its contractors have continually violated numerous statutes and regulations,” including under the Call Before You Dig rules, despie warnings.

A Frontier spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

PURA officials contend that Frontier’s contractors have been: “using unsafe excavation practices for trenchless excavation.” In addition, regulators said the company’s contractor are “improperly using existing electrical conduits for road crossings, and failing to properly notify the utilities after making contact with or damaging underground facilities.”

“Not only are Frontier and its contractors knowingly and willfully violating the law, the contractors appear to be fraudulently concealing the violations in some instances by using fake conduit,” regulators said in part. “The Authority has reason to believe that Frontier, through its contractors, has improperly performed numerous unsafe excavations as part of the expansion of its fiber optic network.:

The cease and desist order cites at least eight instances in which Frontier contractors damaged conduits of other utilities. In particular, the order cites a May 6, 2021 incident in which a contractor damaged a gas line to 166 Hull Street in Ansonia.

The investigation determined the contrator neglected to “hand dig and expose the gas service under the driveway when attempting to cross the service, as required for trenchless excavations,” according to the order.

That contrator also, according to Call Before You Dig reports, damaged utility conduits seven times between mid-May 2021and the end of last year.

Dave Weidlich, president of Local 1298 of the Communications Workers of America, represents Frontier employees who are doing some of the installation work. Weidlich said officials with the Hamden-based union local “have been concerned about Frontier’s use of contractors for over two years.”

“We thank PURA for recognizing the importance of this issue and hope that Frontier will recognize the value of using our Connecticut workers to build out the network,” he said.
https://www.newstimes.com/business/a...r-17337324.php





Charter Told to Pay $7.3b in Damages after Cable Installer Murders Grandmother

Broadband giant says it will appeal jury verdict in negligence case
Chris Williams

Charter Communications must pay out $7 billion in damages after one of its Spectrum cable technicians robbed and killed an elderly woman, a jury decided Tuesday.

Betty Thomas, 83, was stabbed to death by Roy Holden Jr in December 2019. He had dropped by her home in Irving, Texas, on a service call after she reported a problem with her internet-TV bundle, and returned the next day in his company uniform and van, inviting himself in and killing her using his Spectrum-issued gloves and utility knife.

She was found dead by her family on her living room floor after she didn't show up to a Christmas and birthday party that night.

Holden pleaded guilty to murder last year and was sentenced to life behind in bars.

Thomas' family sued Charter [PDF] in 2020 for negligence. It was alleged in testimony that Holden had complained to his bosses that he was penniless and desperate after a divorce. It was further alleged that he had stolen credit cards and checks from elderly Spectrum subscribers, and that the corporation turned a blind eye to a pattern of theft by its installers and technicians.

During that civil trial it was also claimed Thomas' family was charged $58 for Holden's service call, and continued to be billed after their grandmother's brutal slaying to the point where her account was sent to collections.

The court heard how Holden was not working the day he killed Thomas, and went out to her home anyway to rob her. He was able to use his company keycard to access a Charter vehicle lot and drive off in one of its service vans even though he was off-duty. According to the family's legal team, while Holden was seemingly making repairs, he tried to steal one or more of her bank cards from her purse, and murdered her when he was caught in the act. He later went on a spending spree with her funds, it was claimed.

"This was a shocking breach of faith by a company that sends workers inside millions of homes every year," said the one of family's trial lawyers Chris Hamilton, of Dallas-based Hamilton Wingo, in a statement.

According to the law firm, Holden lied about his employment history – such as not revealing he had been previously fired – which wasn't checked by Charter when it hired him and would have been one of many red flags against him. During the civil trial, the court heard how Holden would break down crying at work, at one point was convinced he was a former Dallas Cowboys football player, suffered from insomnia, and was probably sleeping overnight in his Spectrum van.

It was further claimed the cable giant tried to force the lawsuit into closed-door arbitration where the results would have been secret and damages limited.

In June, a Dallas County Court jury awarded the family $357 million in compensatory damages of which the US cable giant has to pay 90 percent. This week, the panel set punitive damages at $7 billion for a total of more than $7.3 billion.

"The jury in this case was thoughtful and attentive to the evidence," added Hamilton. "This verdict justly reflects the extensive evidence regarding the nature of the harm caused by Charter Spectrum's gross negligence and reckless misconduct. For the safety of the American public, we can only hope that Charter Spectrum and its shareholders are listening."

A spokesperson for Charter told The Register this evening it will appeal both verdicts, insisting the ISP was not at fault.

"Our hearts go out to Mrs Thomas' family in the wake of this senseless and tragic crime," the representative told us.

"The responsibility for this horrible act rests solely with Mr Holden, who was not on duty, and we are grateful he is in prison for life. While we respect the jury and the justice system, we strongly disagree with the verdict and will appeal.

"The law in Texas and the facts presented at trial clearly show this crime was not foreseeable — and the plaintiffs' claims of wrongdoing by Charter are categorically false.

"We are committed to the safety of all our customers and took the necessary steps, including a thorough pre-employment criminal background check — which showed no arrests, convictions or other criminal behavior. Nor did anything in Mr Holden's performance after he was hired suggest he was capable of the crime he committed, including more than 1,000 completed service calls with zero customer complaints about his behavior."
https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/...urder_damages/





Comcast’s Broadband Business Stopped Growing for the First Time Ever

No one’s signing up for Peacock, either
Jacob Kastrenakes

Comcast didn’t add any new broadband subscribers between April and June, marking the first time the company has failed to grow its high-speed internet business. Broadband figures stayed flat from Q1 at 32.2 million subscribers, the company announced in its Q2 2022 earnings release this morning.

With just one exception, this is the first time Comcast hasn’t added at least 100,00 new subscribers, according to The Wall Street Journal. That exception came after the 2008 financial crisis and still resulted in 65,000 new subscribers.

Comcast seems to think the flatline is just temporary. CEO Brian Roberts cites “a unique and evolving macroeconomic environment” as limiting the company’s ability to add new subscribers. The spring quarter also tends to be Comcast’s slowest for new broadband subscribers by a good margin even in previous years, so there’s reason to believe the company could bounce back.

There were other problems at Comcast this quarter, though. Peacock, its streaming service, also failed to add new paid subscribers, staying flat at 13 million. Comcast tries to brush this off as a content problem, but the problem was that Comcast didn’t put out anything worth watching. The company claims its programming was “extraordinary” during the first quarter... but after that, we have to wait for its big movies and new shows to hit the service later this year. Comcast expects a “significant” uptick in growth once that happens.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/28/2...-2022-earnings





Congressional Democrats Introduce Net Neutrality Bill

Senate and House Democrats introduce a bill to reinstate Obama-era net neutrality rules and to give the FCC authority over broadband networks.
Marguerite Reardon

Democrats on Capitol Hill on Thursday introduced legislation that could restore net neutrality and the authority of the Federal Communications Commission to regulate broadband.

With President Joe Biden's pick to be the fifth commissioner at the FCC stalled, two Senate Democrats introduced the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act, which would codify Obama-era net neutrality rules repealed under President Donald Trump's administration. The renewed effort to pass a federal net neutrality law is being led in the Senate by Sens. Edward J. Markey from Massachusetts and Ron Wyden from Oregon, according to a press release put out by Markey's office Thursday. Rep. Doris Matsui, a Democrat from California, is introducing companion legislation in the House.

The legislation would reestablish the FCC's authority over broadband infrastructure by reclassifying internet service as a telecommunications service, Markey's release says. This would mean stricter oversight for broadband companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, The Washington Post reports.

"I strongly believe that net neutrality principles should form the foundation of an open internet," Matsui said in an emailed statement to CNET. "These protections will help defend free expression and innovation -- protecting consumers and securing a more equitable online ecosystem."

The bill is the latest maneuver in a decades-long battle over net neutrality and broadband regulation. At stake in this battle is who, if anyone, will police the internet to ensure that broadband companies aren't abusing their power as gatekeepers. The Democrats' legislation would firmly establish the FCC's oversight over broadband, giving the agency the authority to police broadband abuses, such as weak privacy practices or fraudulent billing. In addition, the law would give the agency more authority to promote competition and would put the FCC on firm legal footing to modernize the Universal Service Fund programs, which help provide subsidies to poor Americans for phone service and broadband and which also provide E-rate funding to schools and libraries to offer broadband service.

Net neutrality: A quick history lesson

Net neutrality is the principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally, regardless of whether you're checking Facebook, posting pictures to Instagram or streaming movies from Netflix or Prime Video. Supporters of net neutrality say rules are necessary to ensure broadband companies aren't taking advantage of their power over the infrastructure that delivers content to your internet-enabled TVs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. But broadband companies and Republicans in Congress and on the FCC say the old rules gave the agency too much power, stifling broadband investment.

The result for the past decade has been a ping-ponging of federal net neutrality regulations based on the political party in charge.

In 2015, the FCC with a Democratic majority adopted regulation under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. In addition to preventing companies from blocking or slowing access to the internet, it also imposed utility-style regulation for broadband. In 2017, a Republican-led FCC repealed the rules under Chairman Ajit Pai, who argued against the "heavy-handed" regulations.

Since then, Democrats on Capitol Hill have repeatedly tried to revive federal net neutrality protections. This included last-ditch efforts to reverse the net neutrality repeal by the FCC. But Republicans have opposed these efforts.

The latest battle

The back-and-forth on regulation was expected to continue with the nomination of Biden's pick to fill the fifth seat on the FCC, Gigi Sohn. A long-time net neutrality supporter and activist who advised former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler, who adopted the 2015 rules, Sohn was expected to give the Democrats the FCC majority that would lead to a new set of net neutrality regulations.

But for more than 500 days, the FCC has operated with a 2-2 split between Democrats and Republicans as Sohn's nomination has languished awaiting a Senate confirmation vote. With time running out before Democrats potentially lose the Senate in the midterm elections, Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill are looking to make net neutrality and the FCC's authority law.

The new bill is expected to face opposition from Republicans. The broadband industry says it's not opposed to a law codifying the basic protections of net neutrality, but it will likely fight any provisions of the law that would reestablish the FCC's authority to regulate broadband networks.

"America's broadband customers have waited far too long for Congress to step up and codify the important net neutrality principles that broadband providers already follow today," Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO of industry group USTelecom, said in a statement. "But let's be clear: any such legislation cannot and must not be a backdoor for government to regulate prices and degrade the consumer internet experience."

Grassroots groups, such as Fight for the Future, which has supported federal net neutrality rules, said reestablishing FCC authority is critical. The group says that the COVID-19 pandemic made clear that broadband is no longer a luxury but a necessity. It believes a federal law codifying the FCC's authority over broadband will ensure the agency is able to fulfill its promise of ensuring every American has access to affordable broadband and to prevent broadband companies from "abusing their monopoly power," according to Evan Greer, director for Fight for the Future.

"We know that telecom giants and their friends in Congress are eager to take advantage of the situation [with the FCC's 2-2 split] and push for weak legislation that offers net neutrality in name only, while gutting the ability of the FCC to provide meaningful oversight," she said in a statement. "It's great to know that a true broadband justice champion like Senator Markey will be introducing a bill so that it will be clear what's *real* net neutrality and what's an industry backed fake."

Net neutrality and the states

Since the repeal of federal net neutrality protections, states, like California, which adopted net neutrality regulations in 2018, have been filling the void with their own rules. The federal courts have repeatedly upheld states' rights to enact these regulations, since the FCC, under Republican control, abdicated its authority.

After years of litigation, broadband industry trade groups in April finally dropped their lawsuit to block California's net neutrality law from going into effect. This could pave the way for other states to codify their own net neutrality protections. The result would be that in addition to California's law, companies would likely have to comply with a patchwork of state regulations.

While a clear set of federal net neutrality protections would be nice to have, experts say that isn't necessary.

"Service providers can comply with 50 sets of regulations," said Greg Guice, director of government affairs for Public Knowledge in a recent interview about the impasse with Sohn's FCC nomination. "It's not ideal. But I guess that's what the ISPs want, because that's what's happening without a fifth commissioner."
https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/c...utrality-bill/

















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