[Note: This item comes from Bill St. Arnaud's list. DLH]

From: “Bill St.Arnaud”
Date: February 29, 2008 11:53:49 AM PST
Subject: [CAnet - news] Excellent comments by David P Reed on Network Neutrality

For more information on this item please visit my blog at
http://green-broadband.blogspot.com/ or http://billstarnaud.blogspot.com
——————————————-

[At the recent FCC hearings in Boston David Reed, a professor at MIT gave a very compelling argument in regard to Comcast's efforts to throttle BitTorrent in terms of efforts at reasonable traffic management. My personal interpretation on David's comments is that cablecos and telcos have entered into a contract with users to provide access to the "Internet". The Internet is not a product or service developed by exclusively by the cablecos or telcos for use and enjoyment by their customers, as for example traditional cell phone service. Since the Internet is a global service with its own set of engineering principles, guidelines and procedures, implicit in providing access to the Internet is, in essence, an unwritten contract to adhere to those recognized standards such as the end2end principle. No one questions the need for traffic management, spam control and other such services, but they should be done in way that is consistent within open and transparent engineering practices that are part and parcel of the contract with the user in providing access to the global Internet. -- BSA]

http://www.reed.com/dpr/docs/Papers/Reed%20FCC%20statement.pdf

[Note: This comment comes from friend Scott Berry. DLH]

From: Scott Berry
Date: February 29, 2008 11:35:58 AM PST
To: ‘Dewayne Hendricks’
Subject: RE: [Dewayne-Net] History Survey Stumps U.S. Teens

Dewayne–for the list.

I’m certainly neither an educator nor an expert on No Child Left Behind. But in reading the article I’m struck by the claims that the law is the cause–or even a contributing factor–here.

Apparently a few hours per week has typically been “taken” from the study of history, literature, etc. to ensure there was sufficient reading and math instruction to pass mandated tests. And from what I’ve read, U.S. kids aren’t exactly blowing said tests away.

Let’s see: spend a few hours more on reading and math, with at most modest improvement in test results (especially disappointing since there’s got to be some “teaching to the test” in there). A few hours a week less on history and the bottom falls out of the rest of the curriculum?

Is there nothing to say about the *effectiveness* of teaching methods, or is that a sacred cow?

These kinds of surveys have come up for many years, it seems a bit disingenuous to use this one as a cudgel to beat away at an increased focus on reading and math. Anyway, wasn’t a purpose of the law to help correct a deficiency in math/reading? (Perhaps driven by similar “Jonny can’t do fractions” surveys from a decade ago.)

It seems now they are trying to say the pendulum has swung too far. A more apt metaphor may be there are too many holes in the dike, and our educational system has run out of fingers…

Scott

FCC’S OFFICE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING AND POLICY ANALYSIS RELEASES THREE
STUDIES ON SPECTRUM DESIGNATED TO UNLICENSED OPERATIONS. News Release.
News Media Contact: David Fiske at (202) 418-0513 OSP. Contact Mark
Bykowsky at (202) 418-1695

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280520A1.doc
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280520A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-280520A1.txt

Two Studies Identify New, Efficient Class of Spectrum Congestion Etiquette;
Third Study Demonstrates Feasibility of Using a Market-based Mechanism to Determine
Whether Spectrum Should be Designated to Unlicensed Operations

The Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis (OSP) today released three working papers
on two important spectrum management issues:

Working Paper #41, “Enhancing Spectrum’s Value Via Market-informed Congestion Etiquettes”
and Working Paper #42, “Modeling the Efficiency of Spectrum Designated to License Use and
Unlicensed Operations,” examine ways in which spectrum designated to licensed and unlicensed use can
be more efficiently used.

Working Paper #43, “A Market-based Approach to Establishing Licensing Rules: Licensed
Versus Unlicensed Use of Spectrum,” examines the feasibility of employing a market mechanism to
determine whether spectrum should be designated to either licensed or unlicensed use.

Drs. Mark Bykowsky (OSP), William Sharkey (WCB), and Mark Olson (George Mason
University) co-authored all three papers, while Kenneth Carter (WIK) co-authored Working Paper #41.

[snip]

[Note: This item comes from reader Randall. DLH]

From: Randall
Date: February 28, 2008 7:26:08 PM PST
To: David Farber , Dewayne Hendricks , johnmacsgroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: From Your Pentagon and Mine

[So the government is going to release a "colorless, tasteless and odorless gas" in a populated area, to test our readiness against terrorist attack? This can only end well - right?]

Pentagon, Arlington Chemical Test Roundtable Announced http://www.defenselink.mil/advisories/advisory.aspx?advisoryid=2958
Thu, 28 Feb 2008 09:46:00 -0600

No. 024-08

February 28, 2008
Pentagon, Arlington Chemical Test Roundtable Announced

The Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Explosives Directorate (PFPA-CBRNE), in cooperation with Arlington County, will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of a simulated chemical release in an urban area In early March,. This cooperative test will occur in the Crystal City area and will provide valuable information for both Arlington County’s and the Pentagon’s response to a chemical attack.

A media roundtable to brief interested reporters on the specifics of the test is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EDT, March 29 in Pentagon Room 5B890.

The study, called the Crystal City Urban Transport Study (CCUTS), will involve releasing a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and inert tracer gas that poses no health or safety hazards to people or the environment. These tracer gases are used commercially for leak detection and building ventilation efforts and were used in a similar atmospheric study in Manhattan, New York in 2005.

A number of air sample collectors will be placed at various locations in Crystal City buildings and parking lots to evaluate airflows in this urban environment. Some outdoor samplers will be mounted on light poles in baskets while others will be placed on the ground. All test equipment will be clearly marked with PFPA and Arlington County contact information. Test equipment should not be touched or moved.

Two days of testing are planned. Each test should last less than six hours. The first two weeks of March are the target timeframe for this weather-dependant event.

There will be no impact to normal activities for any occupants of the test area.

To attend the media roundtable, journalists without a Pentagon building pass should plan to arrive at the Pentagon Metro Entrance no later than 45 minutes prior to the event; have proof of media affiliation and two forms of photo identification. Please call (703) 697-5131 to confirm attendance and for escort into the building.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

On the Web: http://www.defenselink.mil/Advisories/

Media Contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132
Public Contact: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

[Note: This item comes from friend Ken DiPietro. DLH]

February 26, 2008
History Survey Stumps U.S. Teens
By SAM DILLON
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/education/27history.html?ex=1361768400&en=00dd4bbcb5277199&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Fewer than half of American teenagers who were asked basic questions about history and literature during a recent telephone survey knew when the Civil War was fought, and one-quarter thought that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World sometime after 1750, not in 1492.

The results of the survey, released Tuesday, demonstrate that a significant proportion of American teenagers live in “stunning ignorance” of history and literature, according to the group that commissioned it. Known as Common Core, the organization describes itself as a new, nonpartisan research and advocacy organization that will press for more teaching of the liberal arts in American public schools.

The group argues that President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law has impoverished America’s public school curriculum by holding schools accountable for student scores on annual tests in reading and math but in no other subjects.

Politically, the group’s leaders are strange bedfellows. Its founding board includes Antonia Cortese, the executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, the union that is a powerful force in the Democratic Party, and Diane Ravitch, an education professor at New York University who was assistant secretary of education under George H.W. Bush. Its executive director is Lynne Munson, a former deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and former special assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney’s wife, Lynne.

“We’re a truly diverse group,” Mrs. Munson said. “We almost certainly vote differently, and we have varying opinions about different aspects of educational reform. But when it comes to concern that all of America’s children receive a comprehensive liberal arts and science education, we all agree.”

[snip]

[Note: This item comes from reader Randall. DLH]

From: Randall Webmail
Date: February 28, 2008 2:38:39 PM PST
To: dave@farber.net
Cc: dewayne@warpspeed.com
Subject: Network Sol’n Sued Again

Internet Company Sued for Holding Names
By ANICK JESDANUN
AP Internet Writer
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-TechBit-Domain-Name-Dispute.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

NEW YORK (AP) – A company that sells Internet addresses is being sued for its controversial practice of holding a domain name in reserve if someone checks for its availability but does not buy it right away. Although Network Solutions LLC termed its new program a consumer-protection measure, the moves make it difficult for interested parties to shop around for better prices. The company charges $35 a year for a name – a few times more than what many of its rivals charge.

The lawsuit against Network Solutions was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by Chris McElroy, a Florida man who checked for “KidSearchNetwork.com” at Network Solutions without buying it, then learned it was unavailable elsewhere. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, calls for an end to the practice and unspecified damages.

Also named as a defendant is the InternetCorporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the agency that oversees domain name policies, including one that Network Solutions uses to keep names in reserve for up to five days without having to pay fees.

Network Solutions has said it was trying to combat domain name front running – the use of insider information to snatch desired domain names before an individual or business can register them. But what it’s doing shares similarities with that very practice.

The company has since made changes, including adding a link on its home page to explain the new policy, but McElroy’s lawyer, Brian Kabateck, said such disclosure does not address the issues in the lawsuit.

ICANN and Network Solutions had no comment.

[Note: This item comes from friend Ken DiPietro. Nicely done! DLH]

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Video: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/diebold_accidentally_leaks

Iraq war ’caused slowdown in the US’

Peter Wilson, Europe correspondent | February 28, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23286149-2703,00.html

THE Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

The former World Bank vice-president yesterday said the war had, so far, cost the US something like $US3trillion ($3.3 trillion) compared with the $US50-$US60-billion predicted in 2003.

Australia also faced a real bill much greater than the $2.2billion in military spending reported last week by Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston, Professor Stiglitz said, pointing to higher oil prices and other indirect costs of the wars.

Professor Stiglitz told the Chatham House think tank in London that the Bush White House was currently estimating the cost of the war at about $US500 billion, but that figure massively understated things such as the medical and welfare costs of US military servicemen.

The war was now the second-most expensive in US history after World War II and the second-longest after Vietnam, he said.

The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.

“The regulators were looking the other way and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system,” he said.

That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout was plunging the US economy into recession and saddling the next US president with the biggest budget deficit in history, he said.

Professor Stiglitz, an academic at the Columbia Business School and a former economic adviser to president Bill Clinton, said a further $US500 billion was going to be spent on the fighting in the next two years and that could have been used more effectively to improve the security and quality of life of Americans and the rest of the world.

The money being spent on the war each week would be enough to wipe out illiteracy around the world, he said.

Just a few days’ funding would be enough to provide health insurance for US children who were not covered, he said.

The public had been encouraged by the White House to ignore the costs of the war because of the belief that the war would somehow pay for itself or be paid for by Iraqi oil or US allies.

“When the Bush administration went to war in Iraq it obviously didn’t focus very much on the cost. Larry Lindsey, the chief economic adviser, said the cost was going to be between $US100billion and $US200 billion – and for that slight moment of quasi-honesty he was fired.

“(Then defence secretary Donald) Rumsfeld responded and said ‘baloney’, and the number the administration came up with was $US50 to $US60 billion. We have calculated that the cost was more like $US3 trillion.

“Three trillion is a very conservative number, the true costs are likely to be much larger than that.”

[snip]

Released: February 27, 2008

Zogby Poll: 67% View Traditional Journalism as “Out of Touch”
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1454

Internet is the top source of news for nearly half of Americans; Survey finds two-thirds dissatisfied with the quality of journalism

Two thirds of Americans – 67% – believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news, a new We Media/Zogby Interactive poll shows.

The survey also found that while most Americans (70%) think journalism is important to the quality of life in their communities, two thirds (64%) are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism in their communities.

Meanwhile, the online survey documented the shift away from traditional sources of news, such as newspapers and TV, to the Internet – most dramatically among so-called digital natives – people under 30 years old.

Nearly half of respondents (48%) said their primary source of news and information is the Internet, an increase from 40% who said the same a year ago. Younger adults were most likely to name the Internet as their top source – 55% of those age 18 to 29 say they get most of their news and information online, compared to 35% of those age 65 and older. These oldest adults are the only age group to favor a primary news source other than the Internet, with 38% of these seniors who said they get most of their news from television. Overall, 29% said television is their main source of news, while fewer said they turn to radio (11%) and newspapers (10%) for most of their news and information. Just 7% of those age 18 to 29 said they get most of their news from newspapers, while more than twice as many (17%) of those age 65 and older list newspapers as their top source of news and information.

Web sites are regarded as a more important source of news and information than traditional media outlets – 86% of Americans said Web sites were an important source of news, with more than half (56%) who view these sites as very important. Most also view television (77%), radio (74%), and newspapers (70%) as important sources of news, although fewer than say the same about blogs (38%).

[snip]

[Note: This is the first time that I've seen a quantitative comparison of this nature with regards to the advantages of BT for content distribution. DLH]

Democracy Now! Saves $1,000 a month with bittorrent
http://www.getmiro.com/blog/2008/02/huge-cost-savings-bittorrent-vs-http/

In preparing for Monday’s public FCC hearing, I decided to do a bit of research into how much money an organization can save by using bittorrent. It turns out that the savings are pretty amazing!

As you will see Democracy Now! has a fixed cost of roughly $200 per month (the service is donated) for distributing their news program at full resolution. Compare that to a bill for serving direct HTTP downloads using Amazon’s S3 service, which would currently sit at roughly $1200 per month and would increase with viewership.

[snip]