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FCC App Challenge Calls for Spyware That Watches Telcos

by Terrence O'Brien on January 6, 2011 at 07:20 PM

FCCThe FCC may have declined to enforce Net neutrality rules for cellular providers when it set new guidelines for landline ISPs, but that doesn't mean the agency is letting the wireless industry get away scot-free. The regulatory body wants to keep a close eye on the carriers, who are free to engage in some filtering and traffic management, but must be transparent about how and why those techniques are applied. To ensure the companies don't try and pull a fast one, the FCC wants apps that allow them to check if a carrier is blocking videos, VoIP calls or other content.

Rather than spend millions of tax payer dollars developing the application internally, the FCC is asking the public to design and submit tools to its Open Internet Apps Challenge. (We're under the impression that singularly talented programmers and hackers don't tend towards government service.) The deadline for submissions is June 1st. The entrants will then be judged by a panel of experts, and selected by a public vote. The winning developer (or developers) will not only get the satisfaction of knowing they're contributing to the common good, but also a trip to D.C. (subsidized by taxpayer dollars!) and dinner with FCC head Julius Genachowski. He's no pop star, but we're sure civic-minded hackers would love to pick his brain over a nice meal.

Tags: apps, fcc, government, NetNeutrality, politics, top, web

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