Items tagged with net-neutrality
Today is a good day: net neutrality rules are now active. Despite the fact that some companies have initiated legal action against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its approval of net neutrality rules, the US Court of Appeals has worked in its favor by refusing to put a halt on things, stating "petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements". Since the FCC approved net neutrality back in February, there's been a ton of excitement from regular consumers and much angst from the biggest ISPs. About a month after the approval, AT&T, Verizon, and others, decided to go to court to slow the process of instating net neutrality rules down. On multiple occasions, those...
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Late last week, we reported on the lack of sympathy FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). While ISPs complain about how net neutrality -- and especially Title II classification -- could stifle innovation and hurt competition, Wheeler's response was a simple: "You don't have a lot of competition." Not that we'd expect it to, but nothing has changed with either Wheeler's or the FCC's stance since those comments were made. On Friday, the agency responded to a May 1 request by ISPs and related groups to delay the roll out of these major changes -- and sticking to its guns, the agency denied it. Flickr: The Cable Show It's not so...
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Long before the FCC passed its net neutrality rules, the agency's chairman, Tom Wheeler, didn't instill much confidence in those who favored them. This hinged on comments Wheeler previously made -- some of which made it sound like he didn't properly understand why net neutrality was important. Fueling this anxiety further was the fact that Wheeler once worked for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. Leading up to the passing of net neutrality rules, though, opinions of Wheeler began to do a 180°. Refreshingly, Wheeler's comments were legitimate, and at the end of February, he and two commissioners voted in favor of net neutrality. Since then, a lot has...
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Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York on Monday, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler went on record with his thoughts on the now-dead $42 billion bid by Comcast to absorb Time-Warner Cable (TWC), saying that he thought Comcast CEO Brian Roberts made a "really good decision" in choosing to end the takeover attempt rather than continue the fight. The punditry at large thought that Philadelphia-based Comcast's bid for its New York City rival — which was launched in February 2014 — would sail through antitrust reviews, however, the FCC virtually sealed its doom when they called for a hearing, a disruptive process that carried with it great implications for failure. Wheeler himself indicated...
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The assault on the FCC’s net neutrality rules is well underway and a bill introduced by Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) may strike the killing blow. As we noted yesterday, a telecom trade group filed a lawsuit this week, alleging that the FFC’s reclassification of broadband Internet as a utility violates federal law. But FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler was confident that the FCC’s move, which gives the Internet protection in the form of the Title II Communications Act, would prove to be unassailable in the courts. Image credit: NYC Rolling RebellionThe rule’s ability to withstand legal challenges won’t matter if the Resolution of Disapproval succeeds. The resolution, which is backed by 15 Republican lawmakers,...
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After far-too-many years of waiting, it looks like the Federal Communications Commission is set to both propose and vote on net neutrality rules next month. According to a Washington Post source, FCC chief Tom Wheeler plans to circulate a draft internally sometime this month, hoping to iron out the last kinks to make sure that there are no issues with approval next month. At this point, I think it'd be safe to remain a little cautious about what's to come. One reason is FCC's Tom Wheeler, someone who's become infamous for going against the grain of public interest in this matter. Plus, let's not forget, this is the agency that "lost" nearly three-quarters of a million net neutrality comments...
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As the war over net neutrality rages on, the Internet Association fired off the latest volley by supplicating the FCC with concerns and a mandate to take decisive action on the issue. The IA’s voice is bolstered by a chorus of major tech companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Yahoo!, and more. “Segregation of the Internet into fast lanes and slow lanes will distort the market, discourage innovation and harm Internet users. The FCC must act to create strong, enforceable net neutrality rules and apply them equally to both wireless and wireline providers,” said Michael Beckerman, President and CEO of The Internet Association, in a blog post. The IA posits three...
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The good news, if you can call it that, is that after polling hundreds of technology experts, the Pew Research Internet Project found that they don’t believe that cybercrime or hacking are the chief problems facing the Internet by 2025. Unfortunately, that’s because they believe there are other problems that will be worse. Those problems center around government and business interference with access and security as well as the curious issue of having too much information available. To be clear, this isn’t a study per se; Pew polled thousands of individuals in the tech field that it identified as experts with the following prompt: By 2025, will there be significant changes...
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More or less as expected, the FCC voted to advance the new net neutrality rules that would allow ISPs to charge certain web companies more for “fast lanes” for content. It’s a decision that net neutrality advocates are unhappy with because they see it as an unhealthy compromise, while net neutrality opponents are annoyed at the open provisions these rules leave open. The vote went 3-2 along party lines, with FCC chairman Tom Wheeler apparently doing enough to convince the other two democrats on the committee to vote along with him. Tom Wheeler This is by no means the end of political wrangling, though. This vote opens up four months of commentary and reviews, a subsequent second...
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Okay, you feel strongly about net neutrality rules, but you roll your eyes at the prospect of a bunch of aging rockstars advocating for it. What do cats like Eddie Vedder, Tom Morello, Michael Stipe, Fugazi, and more have to do with any of the issues at hand? Actually, they have a really good point to bring to the fore. "The open Internet's impact on the creative community cannot be overstated," reads a letter they (and many others) signed and sent to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler. "The Internet has enabled artists to connect directly with each other and with audiences. It has eliminated the barriers of geography and taken collaborations to new levels. And it has allowed people—not corporations—to...
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The U.S. may be embroiled in a bitter fight over net neutrality, but Europe has few such issues. European Parliament voted to protect net neutrality rules by an overwhelming margin of 534 votes to 25 (with 58 abstentions). Forbes quoted rapporteur Pilar del Castillo Vera as saying, “We have achieved further guarantees to maintain the openness of the internet by ensuring that users can run and provide applications and services of their choice as well as reinforcing the internet as a key driver of competitiveness, economic growth, jobs, social development and innovation.” European Parliament Now, ISPs can only slow down or block Internet access with a court order, or to ensure network...
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Now this is one that we didn’t see coming. Opera announced Opera Web Pass, a product that will allow mobile operators to “sponsor” users’ mobile data. In other words, you could enjoy free mobile data as long as you’re willing to endure ads from a given sponsor first. The company paying the advertising is paying for your mobile access. Using the Opera mini browser, you could pull up Web Pass options, select one, and be browsing the web right away. Perhaps you get a one-day unlimited web pass, or a week of Twitter use (sponsored by Twitter), or an hour of Facebook (sponsored by Facebook)--you get the idea. Mobile operators can also tailor web passes to local use cases...
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The FCC’s effort to impose net neutrality rules suffered a setback when a federal court threw out some important sections of the measures, but as the agency fights back against Verizon, et al, it has a powerful ally in the White House. Well, sort of. In a statement on the We The People blog (in response to a petition to get the common carrier designation fixed), Gene Sperling and Todd Park said that President Obama fully supports net neutrality and the FCC’s efforts to that end. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “Absent net neutrality, the Internet could turn into a high-priced private toll road that would be inaccessible to the next generation of visionaries,” reads the post....
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As we’ve all had some time to digest the potential reality of a Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, there’s some thought out there that the two giants could be making a move specifically designed to target cord-cutters, those brave souls who’ve given the one-finger salute to traditional pay-TV providers and their steep fees and incommensurate product. Farhad Manjdo of the New York Times writes that the new, bigger Comcast can recoup any lost cable customers by ensuring that it provides them their Internet service. So one way or another, they get to decide how much customers in its markets pay for cable and/or Internet access. Image Source: Flickr (Mr. T in DC) From a business...
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