NY City Council Hearing: The Regulation and Use of the Unallocated Portion of the Radio Spectrum, Also Known as White Spaces on Sep 28 @ 10am
The New York City Council is holding a hearing on “The Regulation and Use of the Unallocated Portion of the Radio Spectrum, Also Known as White Spaces” on Monday, September 28th @ 10am in the Committee Room at City Hall. I will be there presenting on behalf of NYCwireless. We need as many people as we can get to attend and support us.
Here’s a press release from Josh Breitbart and Free Press about the hearing:
Groups Call on NYC to Open Public Airwaves to New Technology
City Council should embrace ‘white spaces’ and bring high-speed Internet to all New Yorkers
NEW YORK—...
The Internet is Serious Business Film Screening on Sept 30 @ 7:30pm
I, along with Joe Plotkin and a number of other Community Wireless and network innovators, gave a talk a while ago for at People’s Production House. It was a great experience talking about the history of NYCwireless and the Community Wireless movement, and the students were very engaging and asked a lot of thoughtful questions.
The talks were recorded and edited into a movie, which will premiere on September 30. Everyone is invited to attend the screening:
An alien comes to New York City to discover how humans communicate, and is intrigued by the huge networks of cables, routers, and servers …
Idealist.org NYCwireless Podcast
Idealist.org has posted a podcast interview of me (Dana Spiegel) and Laura Forlano talking about NYCwireless and the work that we do. Check it out!
Most of us probably think of using the internet as a solitary, indoor activity. NYCwireless thinks differently.
In the latest Community Podcast, we look at how NYCwireless is working to bring the internet to everyone in New York City, both in and outside of their apartments. By “lighting up” public parks with free wi-fi access, the organization is helping New Yorkers to connect outdoors—and encouraging a new community of users while they’re at it.
We …
Diamond Consultants to publicly brief Broadband Advisory Committee regarding the Bloomberg Administration’s plans for bridging the digital divide
I just received this notice from a contact at the City Council. Everyone should attend if they can (unfortunately I won’t be able to go) and report back.
Very curious too that:
(a) The report from Diamond Consultants is only about the digital divide, since I was under the impression that the research was supposed to be about a lot more than just the digital divide, and
(b) This is being presented as “the Bloomberg Administration’s plans”, because I would think that the Bloomberg Administration would present their own plans and not have a consultant present for them, and further their “plans” should …
Senator Dodd Speaks in Opposition to FISA Bill on Floor of U.S. Senate
Senator Dodd spoke on the Senate floor on June 24, 2008, and delivered this absolutely amazing speech against legislation that would provide retroactive immunity to telecom companies for warrantless wiretapping. Its long, but work reading in its entirety. This one will go down in history books and taught to our children in school:
Under the legislation before us, the district court would simply decide whether or not the telecommunication companies received documentation stating that the President authorized the program and that there had been some sort of determination that it was legal.
But, as the Intelligence Committee has already …
Earthlink Leaves Philly, Network to Go Away
Earthlink today announced that they are discontinuing their Philadelphia muni-wireless network. Apparently, the company has been trying to work with the city and Wireless Philadelphia (the non-profit formed by the city originally to manage the Wi-Fi network) to transition the wireless network assets and maintain its operation.
Those discussions have fallen apart, and now Earthlink has notified customers that its decomissioning the network entirely, and removing all of the equipment.
So the poster-child of Muni-wireless is now back at square one.
Josh Breitbart has good coverage about the happenings in Philadelphia, and through New America Foundation released an excellent report on …