Gigabyte March on Washington

Coalition of Quebec ISPs reporting.

Bell Canada Giving With One Hand and Taking With the Other: Coalition of Quebec ISPs Files Formal Complaint With CRTC

Montreal – November 23, 2005 –The Coalition of Quebec Internet Service Providers, comprised of 15 independent companies, today lodged its complaint under Part VII of the Telecommunications Rules of Procedures with the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

The document ultimately strives to end what the Coalition calls the “unfair conduct of Bell Canada with regards to the provision of High Speed Internet Services.”

The Washington Post

The Justice Department's wide-ranging investigation of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has entered a highly active phase as prosecutors are beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress and executive branch agencies, lawyers involved in the case said.

The 35 to 40 investigators and prosecutors on the Abramoff case are focused on at least half a dozen members of Congress, lawyers and others close to the probe said. The investigators are looking at payments made by Abramoff and his colleagues to the wives of some lawmakers and at actions taken by senior Capitol Hill aides, some of whom went to work for Abramoff at the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, lawyers and others familiar with the probe said.

Business Wire - Article Link

According to Skype officials, Skype has successfully brought free Internet calling to over 66 million people around the world since its launch in 2003, with an average of 175,000 new people joining each day. People with Internet connectivity can load Skype's free software enabling unlimited, high-quality voice calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world. Unlike other Internet phone services, Skype's unique software resides directly on a computer or mobile device to facilitate communications. Skype runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Pocket PC platforms. Skype also offers premium services providing enhanced functionality for its users to make calls to regular phones for as little as two cents a minute.

This agreement with RadioShack supports Skype's growing presence in the U.S. market as a leading Internet communications company. RadioShack's convenient network of neighborhood stores staffed by knowledgeable sales associates will help expose Skype's unique worldwide free call service to a broad new audience of potential customers. Further, these retail stores will provide consumers with a place to shop for new Skype-certified products such as the Motorola Wireless Headset and Internet Calling Kit - the world's first Skype-certified Bluetooth offering.

National Journal - Insider Update:

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, said he was still seeking a date in December for a subcommittee vote on draft legislation that would make broad revisions in the nation's telecommunications laws.

That would lead to a full committee vote next year "as soon as possible -- which would be in March," Barton told a telecommunications policy forum sponsored by Congressional Quarterly and Dittus Communications. He added, “We do want to get a bill that we can send to the president in this Congress.” Full Story

Teletruth-New Networks file Complaint with the FTC, claiming that the previous Bell mergers were based on a massive, 10-year pattern of misrepresentation, as well as untruthful and outright fraudulent statements made to customers.

Included in their report and analysis are misrepresentations by SBC (Southwestern Bell-Ameritech-Pacific Telesis-SNET merger) provide a comprehensive description of the harm to fiber optic deployments in America, as well as local, long distance, Internet and broadband competition and its impact to the economy.

Some headlines all about Ed, Ed Whitarce. SBC's Ceo remarks of the freeloaders using "his" network. "Why should they be allowed to use my pipes? The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment and for a Google or Yahoo! (YHOO ) or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts! "

Jeff Pulver also speaks his mind about the "F" word of telecom describing VoIP.

Nov. 01, 2005
By Bill Holland, Billboard

Catherine Martin, former Assistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs and wife of FCC chairman Kevin Martin, might be called to testify in the case involving I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, according to the New York Times.

Libby was indicted Oct. 28 for allegedly lying to the feds about his role in leaking the identity of a CIA operative whose husband is a critic of the Bush administration’s war in Iraq.

SOURCE: Billboard.biz