Information technologies foster freedom or reinforce repression

The media may portray text messaging and social networks as powerful new weapons for freedom fighters, but these new communication tools may not be as uniformly beneficial or as robust as suggested, according to Penn State ...

FCC to update phone subsidy program for broadband

(AP) -- The federal government spends more than $4 billion a year, collected from phone bills, to subsidize phone service in rural and poor areas. Now, it's considering ways to give those places more for the money: high-speed ...

Wireless, cable companies can't rest on their networks

Think of your car as a smartphone on four wheels. Or your smartphone as a wallet. Or your home as a connected network center where thermostats, video cameras, lights and televisions all "talk" to each other. That "talking" ...

Telstra strikes $10B deal for Australia broadband

(AP) -- The government and Australia's largest telecommunications company announced a deal Sunday that clears a major hurdle to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plans for a superfast national broadband network.

Source: Google, Verizon near net neutrality plan

(AP) -- Google Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are close to finalizing a proposal for so-called "network neutrality" rules, which would dictate how broadband providers treat Internet traffic flowing over their lines, ...

FCC rules seek to avoid surprise wireless bills

(AP) -- Federal regulators want to stop cell phone "bill shock" by requiring wireless companies to alert subscribers before they run out of minutes, hit data usage or text messaging caps or start racking up international ...

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