Skyway Recommended February 4th to 10th

Each Monday we’ll pass on links to articles we thought were well worth reading from the previous week, for those who live where we do (British Columbia, Canada), work like we do (high speed business internet), and think about things we do (internet trends, internet privacy, internet censorship, cutting-edge technology, etc.). If you don’t want to wait ’til Monday, we usually tweet and link to these as we come across them…

TabTimes | Should a Business Rent its Network?

Does it make more sense to buy something and assume the risks of ownership or is it better to pay a service fee? Philosophers – along with mortgage brokers and copier salesmen – have pondered this question for centuries. Read More…

Michael Geist Blog | Distributel Fights Back Against Motion to Disclose Subscriber Information in File Sharing Case

Distributel, an independent ISP with services in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and B.C., has fought back in a file sharing lawsuit launched by NGN Prima Productions, opposing a motion to disclose the names of subscribers alleged to have engaged in file sharing. It appears that NGN is using Canipre to identify alleged file sharers, the same company that has supplied information to Voltage Pictures in its case involving thousands of subscribers at TekSavvy. Distributel did not oppose a similar request in November 2012, but says in court documents filed today that several factors led to a change in position when NGN filed another request for more names. Read More…

FastCompany Design | Infographic | The 550,000 Miles of Undersea Cable That Powers the Internet

YOU THINK SATELLITES SEND THE WORLD’S DATA AROUND? NAH. MOST STILL RUN BY STAGGERINGLY LONG, UNDERWATER WIRES. They seem so brittle. Cables that are a little more than two inches thick line our ocean floors, culminating in over half a million miles in length, transmitting terabytes of data across the globe every second. What about satellites? As of 2006, they represented just 1% of telecommunications traffic. Most of our information flows through these underwater pipes, laid by ships off gigantic spools. Read More…

iClarified | Video | Microsoft Attacks Google With New ‘Scroogled’ Ad

Microsoft is attacking Google and Gmail in a new ‘Scroogled’ ad. “Can you spot what Google goes through in this email? It’s easy. They go through everything. Email between a husband and wife or two best friends should be completely personal but Google crosses the line and goes through every single gmail. Every word in every email.” Read More…

The Guardian | Microsoft and Symantec take out botnet responsible for more than $1m of fraud

Microsoft and Symantec have disabled a two-year-old network of remotely controlled PCs, or “botnet”, that was responsible for at least a million dollars in “click fraud” every year – and possibly substantially more – and which may have controlled as many 1.8m PCs. Read More…