Most politicians only speak up about inadequate tech policy when there’s an overly complicated bill up for a vote. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), however, is not one of those politicians.

Wyden spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, outlining the topics in tech policy that we need to discuss in 2013 and beyond. He focused on data usage and policy: two themes that have carried over from 2012, and will likely remain under scrutiny for years to come.

Wyden is known for his opposition to SOPA, a bill that attempted to protect copyright laws but could have impeded freedom of speech and led to the wholesale shutdown of websites accused if copyright infringement. He is also known for submitting an amendment to the FISA bill, which allows the government to listen in on Americans’ conversations with those overseas in the name of national security and foreign intelligence. In his amendment, Wyden suggested the government be more transparent and reveal how many people have been affected by the Bush-era bill.

The amendment was shot down.

Now in 2013, Wyden believes we need to get more serious about making sure Internet service providers — wireless and wired alike — are held responsible for making sure no specific types of data are discriminated again. That is, he believes that an Internet Service Provider, such as Comcast, must not slow down speeds if someone is attempting to access streaming content from competitors, while providing great data speeds for its own streaming services. This, of course, is just an example, but you can see the problem.

He also believes we need to look at patents. Last year showed us just how far companies are willing to go to prevent competitors from using their patented technology without paying up. Wyden explained that we need to think of software as “building blocks” and allow people to improve on it.

He also reached back to FISA and CISPA, saying we need rethink how much access to our data the government should have. He suggested we rework the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and put more protections in place that stop law enforcement from checking out Americans’ email communications.

via Ars Technica; Ron Wyden image via his website

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

AT&T announced today it is easing up on its “unlimited” data plan restrictions, bowing to public pressure.

Previously, AT&T would slow down your data service if you were among the top 5 percent heaviest data users in your area for each month. Now, to get a slow down, you’ve got to hit the data cap of 3 gigabytes during your billing cycle. But there’s good news for AT&T’s 4G LTE customers; you’ve got 5GB to play with before your data speed slows down. The company explains the new plan on its website. AT&T put this statement on their site:

In response to soaring mobile broadband usage and the limited availability of wireless spectrum, we implemented a network management program back in 2011 to help ensure the best possible mobile broadband experience for all of our customers.

AT&T users had complained that their download speeds were throttled, meaning slowed down, after hitting just 2 gigabytes — a low data-threshold for any mobile user. AT&T makes it clear that you won’t be charged for going over, your speed will just drop. The reduced speeds after your hit the data cap are reportedly too slow to stream Pandora or Netflix on your phone. You’ll get a handy text message that lets you know you’ve gone over your limit.

In contrast, Sprint offers “truly unlimited data” with no throttling. Verizon doesn’t offer unlimited plans any longer and instead charges $30 for 2GB, $50 for 5Gb or $80 for 10GB of mobile data. Customers who go over their caps are charged $10 per gigabyte. T-Mobile offers a few unlimited plans, with mobile Hotspot capabilities and without. Hotspot plans offer 10Gb, which can be shared with other Wi-Fi devices by tethering. The regular data plan caps out at 2GB. T-Mobile follows AT&T strategy by not charging overage fees, but will throttle your speed if you exceed your limits.

If you are really paranoid about going over your data limits, apps that monitor your data usage and compress your data, like Onavo, can help. For a frame of reference, I am a T-Mobile customer who has an older 5GB data plan. I use my phone daily to check e-mail, stream music, check Twitter, and browse the web, and I rarely use more than 3GB per month.

VentureBeat is holding its second annual Mobile Summit this April 2-3 in Sausalito, Calif. The invitation-only event will debate the five key business and technology challenges facing the mobile industry today, and participants — 180 mobile executives, investors, and policymakers — will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. You can find out more at our Mobile Summit site.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

In early October, AT&T may implement a new policy of throttling bandwidth for customers who have unlimited data plans, reports 9 to 5 Mac. The policy change would coincide with the the rumored launch date for the iPhone 5.

AT&T claims data throttling is necessary to solve congestion and poor network performance issues caused by its customers who use its data networks the most, according to the report. Yet this particular problem has plagued the carrier since the iPhone launched on its network in 2007.

But after four years of improvements to its existing 3G network as well as building a new 4G/LTE network, you would think that AT&T could handle more intensive data usage —  especially since the number of people still eligible for the unlimited plan is only going to decrease.

It’s just as likely that the carrier is struggling to maintain a viable wireless network because of the growing number of customers using smartphones to access data intensive services like Netflix, Pandora and Spotify.

AT&T isn’t the only carrier implementing policy changes aimed at improving the stability of its network. Both Verizon and Virgin Mobile are planning to throttle network speeds of data-hogging customers.

AT&T’s practice of throttling will probably be similar to the process used by other carriers. Data hogs will experience slower network speeds for an entire billing cycle after they reach a certain threshold of data. Network speeds for those customers will return to normal at the beginning of the following billing cycle.

If AT&T’s data overage threshold is a gigabyte or more, most people probably won’t experience throttling. But that could change if the data threshold is much lower (say, 200 mb).

Will new data throttling policies affect the way you currently use your smartphone? Let us know in the comment section.

The practice of treating all Internet traffic equally—whether it’s text, e-mail, audio, or video—is commonly referred to as net neutrality. This move makes the Netherlands the second country in the world to put net neutrality into law, after Chile.

The concept of net neutrality is contested by ISPs, which want the ability to slow down the traffic of customers using a larger-than-average amount of their bandwidth. Online gamers, illegal downloaders, and those who stream movies and music are likely the biggest winners under the new law.

The law also bans Web advertisers from leaving cookies in a user’s browser without first getting his or her consent. It will have a strong impact on mobile data usage as carriers will no longer be able to charge customers extra to use Skype or other VoIP apps to make phone calls. T-Mobile, which had blocked all VoIP apps, will now have to allow them on its network.

Some net-neutrality-informed rules have been issued in the U.S., but they have not been made into law. In December, the Federal Communications Commission outlined basic rules that banned ISPs from blocking specific kinds of content and websites, but did allow them to throttle web connections if they believed a customer was using too much bandwidth. Wireless companies like Verizon and AT&T, on the other hand, are exempt from these rules.

Would you like to see the U.S. sign an official net neutrality bill into law?

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Verizon is preparing for an expected onslaught of mobile data usage from new iPhone customers by throttling data for the top 5 percent of users — the so-called “data hogs.” It’s also compressing data files transmitted over its wireless network, according to a Verizon memo (PDF) revealed by the mobile site Boy Genius Report.

Clearly, Verizon is trying its best to avoid appearing like AT&T, which saw its network take significant hits in performance after the introduction of the iPhone. Verizon is also home to powerful Android phones like the Droid series, and it’s preparing 4G devices to launch in a few months, so the new policies should help the carrier manage data hogs across all platforms.

According to the memo:

If you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5% of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand.

Penalizing data hogs for two months seems excessive, especially since it’s unclear what the dividing line is between the top 5 percent of data users and everyone else.

As for the file optimization, Verizon’s memo reads:

We are implementing optimization and transcoding technologies in our network to transmit data files in a more efficient manner to allow available network capacity to benefit the greatest number of users. These techniques include caching less data, using less capacity, and sizing the video more appropriately for the device. The optimization process is agnostic to the content itself and to the website that provides it.

The memo goes on to say that the company will do its best to make sure the optimization doesn’t impact the appearance of content on your mobile device, it may end up having a minimal quality hit.

Assuming Verizon doesn’t go overboard with its compression settings, optimizing files could actually be a great method for dealing with wireless network strain. Most users aren’t aware of the sizes of files that they’re playing, which leads them to access files that aren’t really optimized for mobile devices. By re-encoding those files into something more efficient for its network, Verizon can surreptitiously make its service appear faster and more reliable without the need for costly upgrades. It’s a technique I suspect other mobile carriers will soon adopt as well.