Modification for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Net Neutrality Turns 20, Dumping on Twitter
The approve plan for orbital debris mitigation allows Amazon to begin its deployment of its constellation.
Tim Su
February 12, 2023 – The Federal Communication Commission granted a request by Amazon subsidiary Kuiper Systems LLC to modify its satellite communications license.
The Kuiper Systems initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites aims to provide high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the globe. The FCC approved this project in 2020.
A multitude of other companies, includes Elon Musk’s SpaceX and aircraft manufacturer Boeing are deploying LEO satellite projects to provide broadband connectivity.
This new authorization grants Project Kuiper a modification of its license for a “non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation providing fixed-satellite service and Mobile Satellite Service using Ka-band radio frequencies.” This approved new orbital debris mitigation plan allows the project to begin its deployment of their constellation which can bring high-speed broadband connectivity to customers around world.
Net neutrality turns 20
This year marks the 20-year anniversary of Columbia Law School Professor Tim Wu’s article coining the term “network neutrality.” The term refers to the effort to keep internet service providers from privileging other companies’ content as it travels across the internet. Wu recently left the Biden administration as a senior advisor for technology and competition .
In a blog post on the anniversary, the American Enterprise Institute said, “the catchy phrase has come to mean many things to many people—especially politicians, regulators, and anyone with an axe to grind with broadband network operators.
“Wu’s initial concern was that innovation in the internet economy would be suppressed by ISPs who were either protecting their own turf or just being silly,” wrote Bronwyn Howell and Petrus Potgieter for AEI.
In the view of Howell and Potgieter, the term net neutrality has come to embrace precluding network operators from discriminating among applications when throttling traffic on their networks; prohibitions on charging content providers for carrying traffic to end users; and precluding “zero-rating” of charges against end users’ data caps for selected applications or discounting the data charges for specific applications.
Advertisers aren’t liking the new Twitter
The Center for Countering Digital Hate released a research report on Thursday claiming that Twitter CEO Elon Musk has failed to protect the brand safety of Twitter’s remaining major advertisers, such as companies with advertising and sponsorship deals for the upcoming Super Bowl, according to an article published by Free Press.
Free Press said that many advertisers have left Twitter due to supposedly toxic content. The group and other championing the hashtag #StopToxicTwitter and object to what they characterize as hate, racism, misogyny and misinformation.
Many former blocked accounts have been reinstated under Musk, including Andrew Tate, Robert Malone, Andrew Anglin, former President Donald Trump.
According to Standard Media Index, the advertiser exodus is a major contributor to the 70-percent drop in Twitter’s December revenue over the previous year.
