U.S. Federal Communications Commission wants to keep up with its promises to expand its ways of helping consumers and has introduced new tools to the Broadband.gov Web site meant to allow users measure their broadband speeds or to report unavailability of broadband. The agency will gather information to study broadband performance and availability and will protect consumers' privacy.
On Thursday the FCC said it has added the Consumer Broadband Test and the Broadband Dead Zone Report features to Broadband.gov.
"Transparency empowers consumers, promotes innovation and investment, and encourages competition," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski pointed out in his announcement. "The FCC's new digital tools will arm users with real-time information about their broadband connection and the agency with useful data about service across the country. By informing consumers about their broadband service quality, these tools help eliminate confusion and make the market work more effectively."
With the help of Consumer Broadband Test broadband quality indicators like speed and latency can be easily analyzed due to two known broadband testing tools: the Ookla Speed Test and the Network Diagnostic Tool, using the Measurement Lab (M-Lab) platform. According to the FCC, other broadband testing tools will be added in the future. Furthermore, for those interested, a mobile version of the app, the first mobile app released by the organization, can be found in the Apple and Android app stores.
U.S. residents have other options to report on broadband availability like e-mailing the FCC at fccinfo@fcc.gov or call 1-888-CALL-FCC.
The FCC will use the data gathered from the tools to analyze broadband performance and availability, the agency said. , the FCC said.
Filed under Announcements & Events by 
Raids focusing on operators running file sharing websites have multiplied lately in European countries other than the ‘usual’ UK, France or Italy. Greece saw this week a major arrest related to one of the largest torrent sites in the country – six people have been detained for facilitating online copyright infringement.
The site in question is gamato.info and the operators’ homes were raided on Tuesday y in Athens and three other towns.
The arrest follows a lawsuit which a Greek copyright protection group had filled against gamato’s admins.
Since its publication back in November 2009 the UK government's Digital Economy Bill has caused torrents of criticism from the general public, to ISPs, artists and net neutrality defenders. Recently, BT's Chief Exec Ian Livingstone has expressed his opposition to the bill in a letter he sent to the Financial Times newspaper in which he talks about the urgent need to have the bill modified before becoming a law.
The boss of BT thinks that plans to cut off the alleged file sharers from the internet just go against natural justice and the measures that should be taken against piracy should focus on fines and certain proceeds that would solve the problem.
Major other internet players such as Google and Facebook but also broadband providers including Virgin and Orange have joined the cause and inked their name on the letter.
With respect to the clause empowering ISPs to block file-sharing websites which we talked about last week, many have warned already about the risk it represents for the UK's reputation for online business.
Filed under Announcements & Events, Legal P2P News & Issues by
