Internet

Japan’s high-speed Internet satellite to keep network connected despite Godzilla rampage

Japan is so cool. Granted, I’ve never been there, but I’ve been appreciating sushi, Hello Kitty, Akira and karaoke for many years now. Much like the rest of America, I’m considering a Honda as my next car purchase instead of a domestic model.

Another reason Japan is beating the U.S.? While our cities quibble over getting FiOS into poor neighborhoods along with the rich ones, Japan — where they already have fiber optic cable in most cities — just launched a satellite to provide high-speed Internet to all of the country, including rural areas.

The satellite, named Kizuna, will “allow super-high speed data communications of up to 1.2 Gbps, which would make it the fastest in the world,” according to Yahoo News.

Kizuna is said to also be designed to provide connectivity in case of problems with the terrestrial infrastructure, such as would result from an earthquake… or, one would hope, giant monster attacks.

UPDATE: Amazon says Kindle ‘does not violate net neutrality’

Amazon got back to my questions about whether or not Amazon’s Kindle eBook reader violates net neutrality. Their answer: No. Heather Huntoon, a PR manager for Amazon e-mailed me:

Hi Michael,

No, Kindle service does not violate net neutrality because the network operator does not preclude or degrade other traffic on its physical network. It’s more like a corporate VPN running on the Internet: special devices (company-approved PCs) are needed to use it, and the content transmitted is proprietary, yet other VPNs could operate over the same physical network.

Best,

Heather

Interesting take. I’m not sure if that meshes with how proposed legislation sees it, but I think that is part of the problem: The proposed FCC mandate is too unclear as to what falls under its domain. And as Ike Elliott points out, the bill covers neutral access over “broadband telecommunications networks, including the Internet.” Whether Whispernet counts as a VPN or Internet access, it is definitely a broadband connection and so could presumably fall under these guidelines.