The High Court in Dublin has ruled that an agreement between the Irish music industry and the country’s ISPs to address online piracy does not violate data protection laws. The ruling lays the foundations for the introduction of new graduated response measures to stem file sharing in Ireland. The High Court’s ruling considered the terms […]
France Telecom’s Orange has struck a deal to offer broadband services via BT’s network in Britain to increase its coverage. As part of the deal, BT will take over Orange’s existing fixed-line infrastructure, which currently covers about 65 percent of the population, and incorporate it into its own network. Orange, which is merging its mobile […]
One of the UK’s three biggest Internet service providers has declared it will not co-operate with measures to combat file-sharing set out in the government’s controversial digital economy bill. TalkTalk, which has more than 4 million UK internet users, said that objectionable provisions remain in the bill, including those that would allow content companies to […]
The head of the Federal Communications Commission vowed to press ahead with the broadband expansion plan despite a court ruling that undermined the agency’s authority to manage networks. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that the appeals court ruling was narrowly cast and he issued a timetable for public comment and rulemaking on broadband goals ranging […]
The Portugese cableco lost 1,302 basic cable subscribers in the six months to February 2010, compared to 19,943 in 2009. Announcing second quarter and half-year results, Canadian parent Cogeco said net additions amounted to 21,508 RGUs and 48,121 RGUs, respectively, compared to 12,833 RGUs and 84 RGUs for the same periods of the previous year. […]
China’s online video users reached 240 million at the end of 2009, according to an annual government survey by the state-controlled China Internet Network Information Centre. It also revealed that 56.7 per cent of Chinese Web surfers are now more dependent on the Internet than on television. Television watching in China has dropped among 66.8 […]
Germans are watching more TV series on illegal online portals, according to a study by German copyright production association GVU. The study, which looked at pirated titles available on German-language sites, found while piracy was up across the board, the number of TV series available on online streaming portals grew hugely in 2009. GVU counted […]
The UK Digital Economy Bill was passed in a series of compromise deals to get it on the statute before the election. The legislation has been forced through despite opposition from ISPs and others that it would punish innocent users with its powers to disconnect allegedly heavy down loaders. One of the main voices in […]
In the 'wash up' rush to get laws through parliament before dissolution at the end of this week the government has been heavily trimming its Digital Economy Bill. Most prominent casualty is the £6 (E6.8) pa phone line tax to fund fast broadband. The national rollout of replacement ITV regional news services and giving Ofcom […]
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks. The verdict – a major blow to Net Neutrality – follows Comcast's challenge to the FCC's authority to rule that they […]