On Monday–following months of scrutiny regarding Cablevision’s broadband speeds–the FCC commended the New York-based cable provider in its Measuring Broadband America report for delivering 90 percent of the advertised 15 Mbps.

In the August report, the FCC criticized Cablevision for delivering internet download speeds of only 50 percent what was marketed to customers during peek hours. Verizon and Comcast–two of Cablevision’s main competitors—both were reported to deliver speeds faster than advertised in the August report.

Cablevision is also offering high-speed internet access at a discount price to low-income homes that are the same 15 Mpbs as the standard Optimum Online service. Comcast also has discounted access, but at 1 Mbps.

In a blog post, Joe Gurin, chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Goverrment Affairs stated, “We are pleased to note that the performance of one company—Cablevision—markedly improved from earlier this year.”

In a move that we and every other content provider will strongly applaud, FCC chief Julius Genachowski will propose a series of network neutrality rules that will require content providers to treat all internet traffic equally, regardless of content. While no official announcement has been made, a public announcement is expected Monday.

Network neutrality is a contentious subject. In a way, everyone has an understanding that ISPs will provide an uninhibited flow from content providers to the end users without purposely affecting traffic. Companies that provide internet connections, like Comcast and Verizon, often discuss their displeasure in the fact that content providers, like Google and Amazon, make their profits using the infrastructure that the ISPs have set up, without having to pay for any of it.

In theory, ISPs could choose which traffic is allowed to travel over their pipes, blocking entire domains if they wanted to. While this has never officially happened in the US, there exist no rules to actually bar ISPs from doing so. While blocking domains is a rather draconian measure that would likely never occur, Comcast has been known to throttle BitTorrent traffic, giving other data priority over the file-sharing platform.

Comcast got a scolding from the FCC, but BitTorent wasn’t a company out to make a living, so there weren’t really any damages — other than the dishonesty over its actions to Comcast’s customers. Nevertheless, it’s easy to see how an ISP could throttle one company’s traffic over another’s, resulting in damages to a business.

The FCC panel is made up of Chairman Genachowski, two democrats, and two republicans. The panel previously voted 3-2 to favor net neutrality rules, so this could be an indication of how they will vote in the future to formally codify these rules.

And so we flip open another chapter in the debacle between Apple and Google. As reported by the Washington Post, Google has just let loose a game changer by releasing part of their previously redacted letter to the FCC. You guessed it: the content pretty much completely contradicts Apple’s. Someone must be lying.

Apple maintains, at least since yesterday, that they are working with Google on the Google Voice App for iPhone.

Apparently Google is saving its best for last. It has in its possession an image of the rejection letter. So Apple will most likely approve the Google Voice App to save face, and we’ll probably see it in a few days as the Post speculated.

The questions remains, if Apple did lie to a federal regulatory agency, what will come of that?

• The new head of the FCC is an internet expert who is a strong advocate for net neutrality and cheaper broadband access.

As anticipated, Julius Genachowski has been tapped by President Barack Obama to head the Federal Communications Commission.

The move is another indication that incoming leadership in Washington will move decisively to protect the free flowing Internet from those seeking to become gatekeepers to new media.

It also fulfills Obama’s promise made on the campaign trail to appoint an FCC chair who shares his support for Net Neutrality.

• Obama’s secret letter to Russia purportedly said if Russia helps with Iran, the European missile defense system will no longer be needed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he wanted to work with Russia to resolve a nuclear stand-off with Iran but denied reports he had offered to slow deployment of a missile defense shield in exchange for Moscow’s help.

The New York Times reported that Obama had sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggesting he would back off deploying a system in eastern Europe to intercept and destroy missiles, a move Russia sees as a military threat, if Moscow helped stop Iran from developing long-range weapons.

• Department of Justice halts a death penalty case.

SAN FRANCISCO — President Obama’s Justice Department halted the death penalty trial of an alleged San Francisco gang leader Monday by accepting a 40-year prison sentence that the Bush administration had vetoed.

The plea agreement for Emile Fort remained on hold after a federal judge heard a tearful plea from a murder victim’s mother for a life sentence and summoned prosecutors to a closed-door session to describe their case against Fort.

• The days of no bid government contracts are now over.

WASHINGTON “" President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered an overhaul of the way the U.S. government awards contracts for private sector work, reversing a Bush administration policy that in some cases led to federal investigations of procurement practices and no-bid contracts.

Obama joined Republican Sen. John McCain, his presidential campaign rival, and other congressional figures to announce an executive memorandum that commits his administration to a new set of marching orders for awarding contracts. Obama said “the days of giving government contractors a blank check are over” and said changes could save up to $40 billion a year.