Texas

Cybercrime

Title 7 Chapter 33

Sec. 33.02. BREACH OF COMPUTER SECURITY. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly accesses a computer, computer network, or computer system without the effective consent of the owner.

Sec. 33.01. DEFINITIONS

(12) "Effective consent" includes consent by a person legally authorized to act for the owner. Consent is not effective if:

(A) induced by deception, as defined by Section 31.01, or induced by coercion;

(B) given by a person the actor knows is not legally authorized to act for the owner;

(C) given by a person who by reason of youth, mental disease or defect, or intoxication is known by the actor to be unable to make reasonable property dispositions;

(D) given solely to detect the commission of an offense; or

(E) used for a purpose other than that for which the consent was given.

Municipal Broadband

• Addison | Moon Over Addison | Wifi | Partner Redmoon | Mesh Network |
  • Hamid Khaleghipour, IT Manager, City of Addison, Digital City Expo, April 2006.
    • Public safety - can switch from wifi to cellular net on the fly. Work with Chevron for meter reading.
    • Pop 14.5k permanent residents. 100k during the daytime. 4.5 Sq miles. City received lots complaints about lack of complete broadband coverage, or cost of service was $400 to $600 month.
    • Start planning in 2003.
• Austin
  • Austin Wireless Alliance | Wifi Hotspots | Pop 20.8 m |
• Burleson | Wifi | Partner Redmoon | Vendor Tropos |
• Corpus Christi
  • EarthLink starts selling subscriptions in Corpus Christi, MuniWireless 6/1/2007
  • Corpus Christi shares its Wi-Fi experience in new report, MuniWireless 2/15/2007
• Farmers Branch :: WAZMetro :: Wifi :: Press Release ::
• Granbury | Wifi : Vendor - Airpath, Frontier |
  • Granbury, Texas Announces the First U.S. City to Use Mobile Mesh Wi-Fi for Both Government Services and Public Access , BB Exchance 2005 $305k City contract with Frontier Broadband | Public and Private use | Wifi Mesh | $19.95 / month
  • Airpath Joins Frontier Broadband in Granbury, Texas Wi-Fi Deployment
    3/7/06
• Houston
  • EarthLink To Build 600-Square-Mile Wi-Fi Net In Houston, TechWeb 2/15/2007
  • Houston Citywide Wi-Fi Details - Earthlink aims at yet another muni-market, Broadband Reports 5/19/2006
• Linden | 2200 pop | 3.5 sq mi | Fastline Internet |
• Plano
• Houston's Technology for All Wireless Project and the National Municipal Wireless Debate, Comm Tech Rev 6/15/2005
• Southlake | Wifi | Partner Redmoon |
• Links
  • Save Muni Wireless
• Law :

  • TX Pub. Util. Code § 54.201 et seq

  • Texas Senate passes House Bill 789: no ban against muni networks, Muni 5/27/2005
  • Texas drops anti-municipal-networks clause, Isen.blog 5/17/2005
  • Tropos to Texas legislature: kill that bill!, Muni 2/22/2005
  • Federal ban on municipal broadband proposed by Texas congressman, Muni 6/3/2005
  • Sharon Gillett, Municipal Trends, p. 22 Broadband Properties Sept 2004 (Texas,
    which "bars municipalities and municipal electric utilities from offering telecommunications services to the public either directly or indirectly through a private telecommunications provider")

VoIP

• VoIP Court Ruling -- A ruling on a little watched case in Texas could set the stage for the legal freedom of VoIP, Public Knowledge 5/6/2005

  Texas Suits Vonage over 911 (March 2005) See Cybertelecom :: VoIP :: 911

  In re Transcom Ehanced Services LLC, Case 05-31929-HDH-11, US Bankruptcy Court, NDTX April 28, 2005 (holding that DataVon VoIP service is an enhanced service and does not owe access changes - court attempts to distinguish DataVon from the FCC AT&T VoIP order - but the court's rationale is not clear).

  Trials and Market Deployments

  • TW Approval for deployment received Cablecos Set Sights on VoIP, Xchange February 1, 2004
  • Texas PUC reportedly denied attempts to intervene on the issue of VoIP Balancing Responsibilities and Rights: A Regulatory Model for Facilities-Based VoIP Competition An NCTA Policy Paper February 2004

Cable Open Access

• Dallas City Council has approved the TCI ATT Merger without unbundling requirements. Communications Daily 1/15/99.