The FCC has loosened rules that constrained the number of low-Earth-orbit internet satellites

Good news! However, how many are too many satellites in orbit? This discussion has been going on for several decades.

Will other countries follow? I bet Russia, India, and China will not hesitate.

"The FCC has loosened rules that constrained low-Earth-orbit internet satellites by limiting the strength of the signals they could send to customers on the ground. Under the new rules, satellite networks such as Starlink could use up to eight satellites to serve a given area and frequency band simultaneously, up from one under the old limits, allowing the networks to serve more users at once and potentially improve internet speeds."

"“The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on Thursday [4/30/26] to modernize its satellite spectrum-sharing rules, which could increase capacity for space-based broadband services by up to sevenfold…

The recent announcement comes as a revamp of the Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) framework, developed in the late 1990s. ..."

Doomslayer: Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran

New FCC Rules Could Drastically Improve Starlink Capacity

Trump administration's ban on foreign-made drones starts this week

Bad or good news! This measure seems to make sense. To pause and review policies regarding drones is recommended.

Just imagine, e.g. recreational drones become espionnage instruments. 

What if an amazon drone delivery drops a bomb?

"On Monday, the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission banned all new foreign-made drone models from distribution in the U.S., citing “national security concerns.” Americans who already own older foreign drone models will still be able to use those products, the government said.

In a fact sheet published Monday, the FCC claimed that “criminals, hostile foreign actors, and terrorists” could use drones “to present new and serious threats to our homeland.” As a result, the agency said that it had updated its Covered List — which is a list of products that have been “deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security” of the country — to include all “UAS and UAS critical components produced abroad.” ..."

Trump administration's ban on foreign-made drones starts this week — you can say goodbye to new DJI models | TechCrunch

Olivia Trusty | Federal Communications Commission

If anyone thought or claims, the Trump administration is all white people!

Don't trust your senses! 😊

Olivia Trusty | Federal Communications Commission

The Commissioner

Trump’s FCC chair nominee Brendan Carr says we need to restore free speech in the US and on social media

Good news! It could get a little uncomfortable for some big social media companies.

First-Ever Fine Issued by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Over satellite Space Junk

You can bet, there will be more fines issued in the future! 😊

According to Google Bard: "According to the satellite tracking website "Orbiting Now", there are 7,702 active satellites orbiting Earth as of May 4, 2023. This number is constantly changing, as new satellites are launched and old ones are decommissioned.

The majority of these satellites are in low Earth orbit (LEO), which is between 100 and 1,200 miles above the Earth's surface. LEO satellites are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, navigation, and Earth observation."

"US authorities said they have issued a "breakthrough" first-ever fine over space debris, slapping a $150,000 penalty on a TV company that failed to properly dispose of a satellite.

On Monday [10/1/2023] the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) came down on Dish for "failure to properly deorbit" a satellite called EchoStar-7, in orbit since 2002. ..."

First-Ever Fine Issued Over Space Junk : ScienceAlert

Superfluous Big Government Measures!

Posted: 6/9/2019

Just saw the headline FCC passes measure urging carriers to block robocalls by default. Who is selling/pushing this news (“Good News for Robocalls”) to his constituency via a weekly email newsletter? A Republican U.S. Representative from Arizona. In the language of a typical busybody politician: “I have been keeping a close eye on how Congress and the FCC can help to put an end to the robocalls we are receiving each day. … I look forward to continuing to follow this issue and work with my colleagues to put an end to daily robocalls. ...” (emphasis added)

Get the government out of this! The private sector can handle these nuisances very well!

E.g. T-Mobile is already doing a great job to screen these unwanted, mostly solicitation calls.

If the government stays out of this, private businesses can innovate and distinguish themselves from their competitors. Businesses are compelled to work harder to please their existing and future customers!

Will The U.S. Congress Stop The FCC On Net Neutrality

Posted: 2/27/2015 Updated: 2/28/2015

The Responsibility

It is now the responsibility of each member of the U.S. Congress to explicitly remove any authority from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission over the Internet. Anyway, the FCC clearly usurped authority when it voted for the net neutrality nonsense.

The authority of the FCC is based on the Communications Act of 1934 and subsequent amendments. This is a law passed during the most socialist era in the history of the United States.

The Law

The members of the U.S. Congress need to be reminded that they already passed laws to keep the Internet free and open to market competition.

See Title 47 U.S. Code - Telecommunications - § 230 - Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material:

“(b) Policy

It is the policy of the United States—

(1) to promote the continued development of the Internet and other interactive computer services and other interactive media;

(2) to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation;”

President Obama has been repeatedly reported in the media  to be some kind of a legal professor or scholar specialized in constitutional law. Well, lawyers are often the worst offenders of law.

Credit to Bret Swanson who pointed me in his article to the above cited U.S. Code.

The Internet

The Internet would have never developed so spectacularly and fast had government not stayed away as it did.

The Internet is not a government run utility and it should never become one!

The Internet is something built by all all the people and businesses of the world. It is truly transnational and global! To think that any national bureaucracy could impose power and control over it like the FCC now has attempted is ludicrous.

Obama Pushes Net Neutrality

Posted: 11/11/2014

Within Days Of The Mid-Term Elections

The 2014 mid-term elections just passed and within days U.S. President Obama has the audacity to announces his initiative to declare the Internet to be treated like a public utility. This arrogant moron in the White House is truly incredible.

Government Power & Control

He is asking a Soviet style, big government agency, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to apply this net neutrality nonsense. To apply big government control over the Internet as if it was a 100 year old technology would be really stupid. The Chinese, Brazilians, Indians and others are laughing!

Perhaps The Dumbest President Since World War II

U.S. President George W. Bush was said not to be too smart, but the current U.S. President beats G. W. Bush hands down in terms of low IQ.

I have previously blogged here about net neutrality and several times about the current U.S. President.

Please Resign!

Secure your legacy by resigning, Mr. President! Do We The People a favor, please!

Big Government Aims To Take Control Of Wyndham Hotels IT Systems

Posted: 8/24/2014

Trigger

Recently read “Hacking Victims Become Federal Targets A court case challenges the FTC's data security power grab.”.

This is an astonishing opinion piece from the wall street journal. You would not believe it.

Hacking victims, in this case the Wyndham Hotels, are treated as criminals by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.  The FTC claimed the “gave it the right to supervise the company's IT department.” based on vague federal law.

Blatantly Unconstitutional

Emphasis added.

“Thus began the latest episode of the Obama Administrations's habit of using vague laws to justify regulatory schemes that Congress never intended. More than 40 companies have already acquiesced to the FTC's data security overreach—often small companies without the means to fight—but Wyndham to its credit is pushing back.”

“In most of those cases, companies "caught" getting hacked must submit to penance in the form of consent decrees that allow the FTC 20 years of oversight of their IT departments.”

Unfair Competition - Who Is The Judge?

The FTC bases its intervention on “the catch-all language of Section 5 of the FTC Act: "Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful."” How does this apply to this case?

Shut Down The FTC

The FTC is one of those too many monstrous federal agencies. It was established during the New Deal. Does one have to say more!