NY Pressures ISPs Into Blocking Child Porn Websites, News Groups

from the good-goal,-bad-approach dept

New York's Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, has a history of using his position to threaten big companies into agreeing to take responsibility for something that isn't their responsibility. He did it when he got advertisers to pay fines because their ads showed up in adware -- without ever explaining what was actually illegal. And, now he's done it again in getting a bunch of ISPs (Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner) to agree to block a list of websites and newsgroups that are listed as being purveyors of child porn. The ISPs are also giving Cuomo's office over a million dollars, ostensibly to help wipe child porn off the internet. If that's Cuomo's goal, this isn't the best way to do it -- though, it will get him plenty of press coverage for bullying companies into doing something they aren't required to do under law.

In fact, the state of Pennsylvania tried to do pretty much the same thing, back in 2002, but focused on actually passing a law (unlike Cuomo, who just bullied the companies into "agreeing.") And, of course, a federal court tossed out the law as unconstitutional. The goal is certainly noble. Getting rid of child porn would be great -- but having ISPs block access to an assigned list isn't going to do a damn thing towards that goal. The blocked sites will reappear elsewhere. Those who want access, even to the blocked sites, will simply find encrypted tunnels to hide their paths. Basically, this won't do much of anything, other than increase costs for ISPs.

Even worse, it runs a huge risk of starting ISPs down a very slippery slope of being willing to ban access to online content. No one's against that when it's child porn, but who's reviewing the list to make sure it's really child porn? How hard is it to slip a site that someone just doesn't like into the list? Furthermore, once these ISPs have shown that they're willing to block certain sites, then politicians will quickly look to increase that list beyond just child porn to other types of sites that they find objectionable. It sets a dangerous precedent.

Putting the responsibility on the ISPs is the wrong solution (and, honestly, the folks who are pro-net neutrality should be seriously worried about this -- as it's a clear violation of what they say net neutrality is all about). If the content itself is illegal, go after those actually responsible for the content. Not the service providers. Sure they make for easy targets and big headlines (backed up with that hefty cash "settlement" right to Cuomo's office), but they're not the ones responsible.

Filed Under: andrew cuomo, isp blocking, new york, porn
Companies: sprint, time warner, verizon

Intel, Google, Cable Co's Give US WiMax A New Lease On Life (In The Form Of $3.2 Billion)

from the let's-try-this-again dept

A bunch of the worst kept secrets in the wireless broadband world have finally come together. No one ever really believed that Sprint and Clearwire would fully break off their WiMax agreement. It simply made too much sense for them to get back together. At the same time, everyone also knew that Comcast and Time Warner were talking to Sprint to help fund WiMax in order to get a wireless pipe with which to compete with the telcos. And... oh yeah, given how much money Intel had pumped into WiMax to make everyone think it just had to be the next generation wireless system, there was no way it was going to let Sprint and Clearwire's WiMax plans collapse. Finally, toss in the fact that Google was known to be interested in Sprint's WiMax plans, and it's not hard to figure out what is actually happening...

Yes, indeed, Intel, Google, Comcast and Time Warner are teaming up to pump $3.2 billion into a joint venture that would merge Sprint and Clearwire's WiMax operations under the Clearwire brand name. This is certainly no surprise given all the earlier stories, but given how many problems have surrounded WiMax as well as earlier attempts for the cable companies to offer wireless services, don't expect this new venture to go smoothly right from the beginning. That doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do. Most of the companies involved didn't really have much of a choice but to do this. Of course, in all this mess, Sprint and Clearwire squandered a portion of the lead they held over AT&T and Verizon. While it will still take a while for AT&T and Verizon to get LTE plans into motion, all this futzing by Sprint and Clearwire took away some of the huge lead it should have had.

Filed Under: joint ventures, wimax, wireless
Companies: clearwire, comcast, google, intel, sprint, time warner

So Much For Those Synergies Between Time Warner Cable And AOL, Huh?

from the nice-work,-guys dept

While the AOL/Time Warner merger has gone down in the record books as one of the worst mergers ever, I still contend that it could have gone much better if stronger management had been in place. Most specifically, there were obvious synergies between aspects of Time Warner and AOL -- but petty squabbles and turf wars kept most of those synergies from being realized. The most glaring and obvious of these was Time Warner Cable (or RoadRunner) and AOL. Both offered internet access, and it seemed perfectly reasonable to merge the two properties, and use RoadRunner to upgrade all those dialup users onto broadband, and then keep them engaged with all the Time Warner content. Of course, the Time Warner content people freaked out about content on the internet of course, so that would never have worked -- but the failure to link up RoadRunner and AOL never made any sense.

In fact, the two services began aggressively competing with each other. Then, after three years, someone finally realized that maybe the two should work together and made an announcement saying so. Of course... an announcement without action is worthless. So, another year goes by and another exec trots out with an announcement that the two divisions will work closely again. And again... nothing. Give it almost another year... and yet another announcement. Sense a pattern? In the end, the two groups never actually did combine, and with today's announcement that Time Warner is selling off the cable business entirely, it just puts an exclamation point on all these years of keeping the two businesses separate. Of course, in selling off Time Warner Cable, it will also likely lead to speculation that the company will sell off AOL (or merge it with Yahoo -- remember that plan?) as well -- though, as an entirely separate entity.

While I tend to be skeptical of mergers based on vague "synergies," it's still rather amazing that in all this time, no one at Time Warner ever got these two divisions together -- and now the company may end up selling each off separately. In the end, this was a deal that only worked out for the investment bankers. Remember, they love to convince companies to consolidate one year and diversify the next -- because they make money on both transactions.

Filed Under: internet access, mergers, synergies
Companies: aol, time warner, time warner cable

And Of Course, FCC Sides With Verizon In Argument With Cable Cos.

from the no-surprise-there dept

Last month we pointed out that the cable companies had filed a complaint with the FCC accusing Verizon of some shady practices in trying to get customers to stay, even after they'd already agreed to switch to cable. Since most customers want to keep their home phone number, the cable companies needed to contact Verizon to make the switch. At that point, Verizon would immediately contact those customers to prevent them from switching. As the cable companies pointed out, this gave the telcos an unfair advantage. They were using information they learned from elsewhere (the group in charge of managing number portability) to steal customers back from the cable companies. Of course, given how today's FCC tends to think that telcos are always right and cable co's are always wrong, it will surprise probably none of you, that the FCC has no problem with Verizon's practices. Perhaps the cable companies should have waited until a new FCC commish was sworn in before making this complaint.

Filed Under: cable, fcc, number portability, telcos
Companies: comcast, fcc, time warner, verizon

Can Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL And News Corp Sit Down And Just Divvy Up The Internet Already?

from the thanks dept

Well, well, well. So, apparently, the earlier news about Yahoo using Google ads was just the appetizer to the more meaty story, which is apparently... well... that just about all the big name internet players are going to do a bit of horse trading to figure out who owns who in the end. There seems to be a lot of speculating in the WSJ article, but apparently step one is that Yahoo and AOL might merge their internet properties (something that's been rumored before). That pairing would likely lead to Google taking over the ads (it already handles the ads for AOL and owns a stake of AOL). At the same time, the article reports that News Corp., once rumored to be a suitor of Yahoo until it vehemently denied the story, may actually be teaming up with Microsoft to make a joint bid for Yahoo. Who else did we leave out? Nobody?

Anyway, I stand my by original assessment of a potential AOL-Yahoo merger ("like trying to keep a wild animal from eating you by covering yourself with feces"), but honestly, this gathering of the big players should actually be seen as a huge opportunity for everyone else. Basically, the big boys are about to make a big mess, and there will be tremendous opportunities that spill out while they try to figure out what went wrong. People are just starting to realize that you don't innovate by building up huge mega-corporations -- you do it by being small and nimble. These megamergers are going in the wrong direction and will open up huge opportunities for small, quick firms that think big.

Filed Under: big players, mergers, rumors
Companies: aol, google, microsoft, news corp, time warner, yahoo

Cable Companies Looking To Buddy Up With Sprint Once Again To Save WiMax

from the let's-see-how-this-works... dept

Remember a couple years ago when all the big cable companies teamed up with Sprint with plenty of fanfare to provide mobile phone service and to compete against Verizon and AT&T? Whatever happened to that? Oh, right, it went nowhere. So, perhaps don't get too worked up over the news today that cable companies Comcast and Time Warner might be teaming up with Sprint and Clearwire to fund their troubled WiMax efforts. If you recall, Sprint and Clearwire had a huge deal (with hundreds of millions in backing from Intel) to WiMax the nation, and that deal also fell apart though everyone knows they've been seeing each other on the sly. They know they can't do it alone, so certainly having some support from Comcast and Time Warner could help move this project forward, but there have been so many false starts and stumbles that you can bet this isn't going to go as smoothly as all the players are about to suggest.

Filed Under: cable companies, wimax
Companies: clearwire, comcast, sprint, time warner

Cable Companies Accuse Verizon Of Shady Practices To Prevent Customers From Leaving

from the so-we-hear-you're-leaving... dept

Comcast and Time Warner have complained to the FCC that Verizon is taking unfair advantage in preventing customers from dropping their phone service. The basic story is that the cable companies have been offering deals on various "bundles" of TV, internet and phone service, all over cable. When customers agree to switch, most want to keep their existing home phone number (which is allowed under number portability rules). The cable companies take care of that part, informing the phone company of the switch -- at which point (the cable companies say) Verizon calls up those customers and offers them cash discounts to stick around. While it's quite common for telcos (or other firms for that matter) to offer customers who cancel deals to stay, this is somewhat different. The customer hasn't called to cancel in this case. It's just because Verizon owns the telephone network that it finds out about the switch and then proactively contacts the customers. Given the FCC's extra friendly terms with the telcos rather than cable co's, anyone think this has a chance of getting anywhere?

Filed Under: cable companies, fcc, number portability, telcos
Companies: comcast, time warner, verizon

AOL Realizes Way Too Late That AIM Should Have Been A Social Network

from the catching-up-four-years-late dept

As social networks like Friendster and then MySpace first came to prominence in the 2003/2004 time frame, we wondered why the big players (AOL/Yahoo/Microsoft) in the instant messaging space didn't recognize that those instant messaging networks were better social networks than the networks. Whereas most social networks had little to do once you connected, most people used instant messaging to communicate all the time. Those instant messaging systems already knew who all your "friends" were, and it shouldn't be that hard to then take that information and convert it into a more standard social network, with instant messaging features built right in. Yet, nothing really happened. Yahoo and Microsoft made some half-hearted attempts at social networking with little success, keeping them mostly separate from their vibrant instant messaging networks. Now, it appears that AOL has finally woken up and realized this possibility, but since it's so late to the game, it's decided to just buy Bebo for $850 million and integrate it with AIM.

While $850 million is less than was earlier rumored, and suggests that Bebo's growth rate isn't as strong as it would like, the site does have plenty of users (mostly in the UK). When I was over in the UK a few months ago, everyone was talking about Bebo the way people talk about Facebook here. That said, linking AIM to Bebo in a way that gets people interested may be difficult. There's certainly a bit of social network fatigue going on these days, and it seems as though people are beginning to wonder why they should join yet another social network unless it really provides something different and compelling than the last social network. Yes, AOL should be turning AIM into a social network, but they should have done it four years ago when it still made sense. As it stands, this seems likely to go nowhere fast -- especially with the cloud over AOL's future strategy.

Filed Under: acquisitions, instant messaging, social networks
Companies: aol, bebo, time warner

Yahoo Now Thinks AOL Will Be A Savior?

from the seriously? dept

Over the weekend, reports quickly came out that Yahoo's board had apparently decided to reject Microsoft's takeover bid, which wasn't too surprising, given what the company had been hinting at all week. There was plenty of talk about looking for other suitors, but one by one, the few obvious candidates all backed away. Then, late Sunday a new rumor arose: Yahoo! might try to keep Microsoft away by merging with AOL. That seems sort of like trying to keep a wild animal from eating you by covering yourself with feces. It might make awful sense for about a second, but it's just a bad, bad idea. First, it's unlikely to work -- and, second, it's just pathetic. As much as it seemed like Microsoft merging its web operations with Yahoo would be two also-rans pretending a merger would somehow make them into a web operation people cared about, merging with AOL would be even worse. Of course, the folks over at Google must be laughing hysterically at the possibility. Not only would an AOL/Yahoo merger appear to be less of a competitive worry than a Yahoo/Microsoft merger, Google might actually make out quite well in the deal, since it owns a piece of AOL. So, in the unlikely chance that Yahoo merges with AOL and fends off Microsoft, Google would cash out of AOL, watch Yahoo struggle to merge with AOL and see Microsoft left without a big internet partner. That has to be Google's dream scenario.

Filed Under: desperation, mergers
Companies: aol, google, microsoft, time warner, yahoo

Time Warner Takes Steps To Finally Spin Off AOL

from the a-bit-late dept

As part of Time Warner's earnings conference call, the company noted that it will be splitting AOL into two parts: cutting the rapidly shrinking access subscriber business from the content/advertising business. Many folks are assuming this is in preparation to finally sell AOL off. Of course, like so much that AOL/Time Warner has done over the years, this is too little too late. Remember the happy days in the 90's when AOL would come out with a press release announcing every million new subscribers? Funny that they don't do that for every million lost subscribers... However, it's been those subscribers that have hindered AOL's ability to adjust. For years, they were afraid to do too much with free content to lose that subscription base, even as that subscription base was figuring out that they could already go elsewhere and get the same content for free (and buy access for much less). So, when the company finally adopted a free model, it was too late to simply throw the doors open. People just weren't that interested. The same is true now. Time Warner had a chance to salvage AOL years back, if they had aggressively tied it to a broadband strategy rather than competing with itself and giving lip service to a more complete strategy which never actually seemed to happen. Finally separating out the dwindling access business is hardly going to catapult the rest of the business forward, as most people have simply moved on to other sources. While the sheer size of AOL's traffic can hold it up for a while (and may make it an attractive buyout for someone looking only to buy some traffic), it's lack of innovation and growth have pretty much doomed it to also-ran status.

Filed Under: broadband, mergers, portals, spinoff, strategy
Companies: aol, time warner