Tag: net neutrality

FCC, FTC chiefs urge Internet openness, security at CU conference

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This article incorrectly states that the Chairman said that 75% of households have only one carrier while the correct number is 2 carriers. Also what the Chairman said is an oxymoron, you cannot keep something “open” when you allow a commission influenced by large media corporations that will define what can be said and done on the Internet. Finally more regulations increase costs that discourage, not encourage, investment. This doublespeak is typical from what we have been hearing from this administration, but it is shocking that it is coming from the FCC that is supposed to be an independent agency.

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler on Monday forcefully defended the agency’s intent to regulate the Internet as a utility, stating that the agency’s goal is to keep the ‘Net “fast, fair and open for all Americans” while encouraging incentives for investment. Continue reading

Cedar Falls Muni Provider Concerned about Title II

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English: Cotton Theater located at 103 Main St...

English: Cotton Theater located at 103 Main Street in Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, Iowa is on the National Register of Historic Places (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An Iowa-based municipal broadband provider that President Obama praised during a mid-January visit is worried that Title II regulation could hurt its finances and impede its ability to expand services for customers.

In mid-January, President Obama visited Cedar Falls, Iowa, to tout the Internet services provided by Cedar Falls Utilities (CFU), as a model for how a publicly run broadband network should be operated. But in a recent filingwith the Federal Communications Commission, CFU joined USTelecom member Shenandoah Telecommunications Company and members of the American Cable Association (ACA) to highlight why reclassifying broadband services under Title II might harm small and medium sized internet service providers. Continue reading

FCC targets Title II regulation of Internet services with forbearances for Net Neutrality

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Please read the entire article to understand the extent of what Wheeler is proposing. The lack of being able to prioritize content and possible scrutinization of peering arrangements is the most troublesome to me. The inability to prioritize content puts the OTT providers at a disadvantage to the incumbent service providers that are the ISP too because it does not allow them to provide the same quality of service as the incumbents do with their voice and video out of band.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Thomas Wheeler today unveiled his new attempt to implement Net Neutrality. As had been signaled for several weeks, the plan involves limited application of Title II reclassification of Internet service provision as a telecommunications service. Continue reading

Senators Introduce Bill To Block States From Blocking Public Broadband

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capitoldomenight[1]Congress is just all up in the FCC’s business lately, it seems. Earlier this week, lawmakers in both houses proposed their own version of net neutrality, one that would also strip the FCC of its own authority to regulate broadband in the future. Today, there’s a bill looking to jump into one of the FCC’s other big issues right now: state laws that prohibit communities from developing municipal broadband.

Senators Cory Booker (NJ), Ed Markey (MA), and Claire McCaskill (MO) today introduced the Community Broadband Act, which would make it illegal for states to forbid municipalities from building out their own networks if they want to. Continue reading

CES: Wheeler Signals Title II Is Likely

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FCC chairman Tom Wheeler outlined his approach for establishing new rules for the “Open Internet” by suggesting he would use Title II, but in a relatively limited way, to ensure there would be “no blocking, no throttling and no paid prioritization.”

Wheeler made the comments at an annual Q&A with Consumer Electronics Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro during the 2015 CES convention on Jan. 7. Continue reading

Net Neutrality Meets Muni Broadband

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There is not a mention of municipal broadband in this article other than the statement about the number of states with laws blocking it. At this time we have discovered that a vast majority of comments received by the FCC were form letters created by Soros-backed groups demanding more government control and that it is generally accepted that more regulation, especially Title II, will increase broadband rates. Yet, there are still people that believe that more government intervention will increase freedom and privacy.

The net neutrality discussion has raged since January when a U.S. appeals court struck down federal rules that barred broadband providers from creating fast and slow Internet lanes, essentially allowing ISPs to favor some sites and slow down others.

In response, the FCC proposed rules that would comply with the court’s ruling, causing a national debate that crashed the commission’s public comment system in July. Continue reading

Father of the World Wide Web says it’s getting worse all the time

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Tim Berners-Lee speaking at the launch of the ...

Tim Berners-Lee speaking at the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I find it ironic that Tim Berners-Lee finds that increasing government surveillance and censorship on the Internet should be stopped by more government control. It is that increased government control that is making the Internet less free.

By Martyn Warwick

A new report from the World Wide Web Foundation concludes that the web is becoming less free and more unequal with users increasingly subject to state and government surveillance  as laws to prevent, or at least circumscribe and control, mass interception of private data and communications are either pathetically weak or even non-existent in 84 per cent of the world’s countries. Meanwhile state censorship of access to and the content of web sites is also increasing. And with dedicated server hosting plans, websites can now easily handle high levels of traffic. Continue reading