crying wolf

Stock prices for Comcast, TWC, and Charter, as seen on Google Finance, on February 4, 2015. All jumped after Wheeler's op-ed about net neutrality hit the internet at 11:00 a.m.

Despite Threats Of Disaster, Investors In Comcast, Verizon, Etc. All Seem Totally Fine With FCC’s Plan To Reclassify Broadband

For a year now, the big ISPs have been having a series of public freakouts that stronger net neutrality rules would make for an uncertain regulatory future, leave them exposed, drive investment down, and hurt their businesses. And yet earlier today the chairman of the FCC dropped his bombshell that the agency is going to aim for the strongest possible regulation anyway. So how’d the market respond?

The stocks all went up. [More]

(Alan Rappa)

Calling 9-1-1 To Report A Fake Murder Won’t Get You Out Of A Speeding Ticket

Getting pulled over for speeding is no fun, of course — but when those sirens come on, most responsible drivers accept that they’ll just have to face the music and take a ticket. One Florida man had bigger ideas than getting a ticket — and by “bigger” I by no means “better,” because reporting a murder that didn’t happen is just not going to work out. [More]

FCC To TV Companies: You Can’t Broadcast Emergency Alert Tones If It’s Not An Emergency

FCC To TV Companies: You Can’t Broadcast Emergency Alert Tones If It’s Not An Emergency

The thing about the Emergency Alert System is that it’s only supposed to be used to alert people when there’s an actual emergency. So anyone viewing the trailer for 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen might’ve been alarmed to hear those telltale tones along with “This is not a test” — at least until Gerard Butler’s face hits the screen. [More]