Skyway Recommended December 2nd to 8th

This week: Understanding ‘Net Neutrality’; Microsoft likens Government Snooping to Cyber attacks; Google Robots May Pose Delivery Challenge to Amazon Drones; Canada’s Anti-Spam Law Arrives July 1st, 2014; Facebook’s Wind-Powered Data Center

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…

Strand Consult Publications | Understanding Net Neutrality and Stakeholders’ Arguments

There is no doubt that net neutrality is a complex topic and is on the agenda of the telecom regulators around the world. There are a number of stakeholders who have an interest in this debate but have not familiarized themselves with the arguments both for and against. Put simply, the net neutrality debate is often derailed by people who have a religious approach to the issue and make emotional, seemingly inviolable arguments that puts one set of stakeholders above all others rather than taking the time and process for a multi-stakeholder dialogue. Read More…

The Guardian | Microsoft likens government snooping to cyber attacks

Microsoft’s chief lawyer says that government snooping on its servers constitutes a threat as serious as “sophisticated malware or cyber attacks”. He also pledged to open up some of its code for peer review to reassure customers that there are no “back doors” to allow unauthorised access to information. Read More…

BBC News | Google Robots May Pose Challenge to Amazon Drones

Google has revealed it has taken over seven robotics companies in the past half a year and has begun hiring staff to develop its own product. A spokesman confirmed the effort was being headed up by Andy Rubin, who was previously in charge of the Android operating system. The spokesman was unwilling to discuss what kind of robot was being developed. But the New York Times reports that at this stage Google does not plan to sell the resulting product to consumers. Instead, the newspaper suggests, Google’s robots could be paired with its self-driving car research to help automate the delivery of goods to people’s doors. Read More…

Government of Canada | Canada’s anti-spam law will come into force on July 1, 2014

The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Industry, today announced that Canada’s anti-spam law will come into force on July 1, 2014. “Our government does not believe Canadians should receive emails they do not want or did not ask to receive,” said Minister Moore. “These legislative measures will protect consumers from spam and other threats that lead to harassment, identity theft and fraud. We are prohibiting unsolicited text messages, including cellphone spam, and giving Canadian businesses clarity so they can continue to compete in the online marketplace.” Read More…

GigaOm | Facebook’s wind-powered data center gets props from data center peers

The clean power facilities that Apple built in Maiden, North Carolina, might be awe-inspiring, but they’re also both a bit controversial (because of the massive amount of land used) and not so realistic for other smaller data center operators to replicate (mostly because of cost). Other clean power options that data centers are adopting, like fuel cells, aren’t necessarily all that clean if powered by natural gas. Amazon’s data center rockstar James Hamilton writes in a recent blog post thatFacebook’s decision to work with a utility in Iowa to have a new data center powered entirely by a nearby wind farm is a solid model for data center operators that want to adopt more clean power. Read More…