Lord Carter, the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting has suggested a “music tax” to cover artist royalties. The government is looking to a £20 charge per internet user, which would be added to the customer’s ISP charges, for access to “unlimited content”. The initial idea would be on a voluntary basis but there are [...]

Controversial targeted advertising company Phorm has announced a deal with Korean Internet service provider KT. This will see the company’s behavioural targeting advertising system replicated in Korea after successful trials in the UK. However, there are fears that the Phorm system infringes privacy laws and it has attracted a number of legal challenges.
In simple terms [...]

The BBC and Sky are, perhaps unsurprisingly, at loggerheads as to how central the BBC should be in delivering the government’s vision for Digital Britain.
Last week Sky asserted the government should reconsider its call, through the interim Digital Britain report, for the BBC to play a role in marketing broadband Britain and helping to set [...]

A routine check of the offices of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama has opened the doorway to a massive espionage ring in China. The ring was uncovered by security experts at two Canadian universities, the University of Toronto and Cambridge University, who found malware and spyware on the spiritual leader of most of the [...]

Carphone Warehouse is considering a last-minute bid for the UK broadband arm of ISP Tiscali. The company, which is on the verge of administration and has been suspended from the Italian stock exchange, was being wooed by BSkyB until the deal appeared to fall apart on pricing issues. However, the media behemoth has recently renewed [...]

Since it’s Friday, and we at SamKnows like to let it all hang out (you think we have a dress-down code in the office at the end of the week? Well, you’d be partially right: today is don’t get dressed Friday and  we’re all sitting here in our PJs) we thought we’d entertain you with [...]

IT specialists in Australia have discovered a botnet that is capable of controlling both routers and cable or DSL modems. The “Psyb0t” or “Network Bluepill” is capable of attacking and infecting around 50 models of routers and modems - including popular Netgear and Linksys models. So far, traditional router protection measures have not managed to [...]

The ‘bill shock’ often associated with a trip abroad could be eased from this July as new European rules are due to be put in place that will limit roaming charges to 1 Euro per Mb. Then, within two years, the legislation will impose a further cap on operators of 50 cents per Mb.
A spokesperson [...]

The Guardian has published a map of BT’s initial Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) locations. This follows on from the media stories over the last few days about various regional cities getting “superfast” broadband.
With electronics mounted in or close to kerbside cabinets the length of the twisted pair loop will be reduced and speeds of [...]

Sky is urging the government to drop the suggestion the BBC could play an important role in the roll out of high speed broadband, as outlined in Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report.
The Digital Britain report, published at the end of January, only made a couple of passing references to the BBC when it suggested that [...]

The UK’s only national fixed wireless broadband provider is about to change to WiMax technology. 
 is operated by UK Broadband, owned by PCCW of Hong Kong. In 2003 they won or acquired all of the licenses for UK fixed wireless broadband in the 3.4 GHz band and launched their “Netvigator” service, initially in the Reading area.
Recently [...]

Analysys Mason have produced a report “Delivering High Quality Video Services Online” which forecasts substantial growth in the bandwidth required for delivery of video over broadband networks.
The report was commissioned and published by OFCOM as part of their technical research program. 
At 122 pages the report covers the subject in some detail. In essence it concludes [...]

One of three consultations launched by OFCOM today proposes to “remove all company specific retail regulations on BT intended to enhance competition in analogue telephony.”
This is a result of increasing competition from LLU, carrier preselection and alternative retailers using Openreach and BT Wholesale products which have reduced BT’s residential market share to 66%
“We think this [...]

YouTube have blocked access for UK users to many music videos after failing to come to an agreement with the UK’s Performing Rights Society (PRS) over royalty payments to artists.
Reading between the lines it appears that YouTube were looking for a lower fee per view to offset the dramatic growth in viewer numbers. Having failed [...]

Tiscali’s shares have been suspended on the Milan stock exchange after falling 40% and a debt interest payment will be missed after talks with BSkyB about acquiring Tiscali(UK) came to an end.
With a market capitalisation on suspension of about €100m but a reported €500m of debt it seems that receivership and a fire sale of [...]

Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse is quoted in the Sunday Times complaining about likely price rises for BT’s local loop unbundled services. OFCOM’s consultation on Openreach pricing closed on Friday after a 2-week extension, so Dunstone is maintaining his lobbying pressure.
OFCOM’s consultation showed Openreach failing to make a commercial return on some products either now [...]

The BPI has confirmed to SamKnows that although there has been no official statement, it has ditched its call on ISPs to warn, warn again and then disconnect illegal file shares – the so called ‘three strikes and out’ approach.
Whilst it claims to have never used the phrase associated with the practice, a spokesperson for [...]

OFCOM have today released a statement on “Delivering super-fast broadband in the UK” which focuses on the regulatory regime that will apply to BT as they “currently hold a position of significant market power in relation to the relevant markets at present”. Specifically it addresses BT’s Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) plans.
The 90 page document is [...]