public utilities commission

Uber car service battles to stay in Colorado

Uber is headed toward another obstacle from city officials, and this time it's in Denver, Colo.

The state's Public Utilities Commission is proposing changes to the rules that regulate motor vehicle transportation, which could essentially shut UberDenver down.

The transportation startup announced today that it's going to fight to keep its service in the state. Uber has created a petition for Colorado residents to sign in support of Uber. The company is also urging locals to e-mail the state's governor, John Hickenlooper, and the chairman and director of the Public Utilities Commission.

"Since our launch … Read more

Memo to Jerry Brown: Sign SB 1161 for all Internet users

commentary California lawmakers have taken an encouraging step to keep government from tinkering with the mechanics of the Internet. As first reported by CNET in June, SB 1161, which passed last week, prohibits the state's Public Utilities Commission from imposing new regulations on "Voice over Internet Protocol and Internet Protocol enabled services," except when specifically authorized by the legislature or by federal authorities.

SB 1161, which is only four pages long, was approved in May by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the state's Senate. On August 22, it cleared the state Assembly by a margin of … Read more

Government control of Net is always a bad idea

An important law that would protect California consumers from state-level regulation of VoIP and other IP-based services passed the California State Senate late last week on a bipartisan 30-6 vote.

The bill, SB 1161, now moves to the State Assembly, which has scheduled hearings for June 11.

SB 1161 is short and sweet. It prohibits the state's Public Utility Commission "from regulating Voice over Internet Protocol and Internet Protocol enabled service...except as required or delegated by federal law" or otherwise authorized by statute, until at least 2020.

Its goal is even more straight-forward. As the bill'… Read more

SF utilities agency warns of potential breach

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is warning its customers that their personal data may have been exposed in a recent breach, an SFPUC spokesman told CNET today.

SFPUC noticed a few weeks ago that an unsecured server that was storing customer data also had some viruses on it, according to spokesman Tyrone Jue. It's unclear how the server got infected with the viruses, he said, adding that "it looked like someone had found an open port on the server and dumped a bunch of viruses on it."

A file on the server contained customer names, account … Read more