FCC to Vote Tuesday on "Net Neutrality" Rules | An "Open Internet"
source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/12/20/fcc.net.neutrality/index.html?hpt=T1
-
-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
Doug Gross
By Doug Gross, CNN
December 20, 2010 7:07 p.m. EST
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is proposing rules he said will preserve an "open internet."
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* FCC to vote Tuesday on open-internet "neutrality" plan
* Plan is designed to keep people who pay from getting better web service than others
* If approved, plan would go to Congress for final approval
(CNN) -- The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote Tuesday on a set of regulations designed to ensure that internet providers grant everyone equal access to the Web.
The "net neutrality" rules, proposed by the Obama administration, would be the government's biggest foray yet into one of the Web's fiercest debates.
In announcing the proposed rules earlier this month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said they would require high-speed internet providers to treat all types of Web content equally.
The rules would, in effect, keep the companies that own the internet's real-world infrastructure from slowing down some types of websites or apps -- say, those belonging to a competitor -- or speeding up others from high-paying clients.
The commission's agenda says the vote will address "basic rules of the road to preserve the open internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition and free expression."
If it passes, as it is expected to do, the plan will go before Congress for final approval. That isn't expected to happen until the new Congress, elected in November, takes office next year.
Internet-freedom advocates have called the rules a step in the right direction but say they don't go far enough.
For example, the proposal doesn't set the same set of rules for mobile communications as it does for Web-based ones. And it wouldn't let the government strictly regulate internet providers in the way some advocates would like.
In fact, the proposal is similar to one put forward earlier this year by Google and Verizon, two of the internet's biggest stakeholders.
Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat and one of Congress' most vocal net-neutrality advocates, calls the issue "the most important free-speech issue of our time." In a column Monday for the Huffington Post, Franken said some of the current proposal's language could actually weaken protections.
"[T]his Tuesday, when the FCC meets to discuss this badly flawed proposal, I'll be watching," he wrote. "If they approve it as is, I'll be outraged. And you should be, too."
Michael Copps, a Democrat and one of the commission's five members, said in a written statement that he won't block the plan after weeks of trying to make it tougher.
"The item we will vote on tomorrow is not the one I would have crafted," Copps said. "But I believe we have been able to make the current iteration better than what was originally circulated.
"If vigilantly and vigorously implemented by the commission -- and if upheld by the courts -- it could represent an important milestone in the ongoing struggle to safeguard the awesome opportunity-creating power of the open internet."
Technically, Copps said he will vote to concur, which means not endorsing all parts of the plan but letting it move forward and, theoretically, be tweaked later.
Copps' two fellow Democrats also are expected to concur, while its two Republicans likely will vote no.
One of those Republicans, Robert M. McDowell, criticized Genachowski's proposal Sunday in a Wall Street Journal column.
"Nothing is broken that needs fixing ... " he wrote. "Analysts and broadband companies of all sizes have told the FCC that new rules are likely to have the perverse effect of inhibiting capital investment, deterring innovation, raising operating costs and ultimately increasing consumer prices."
-
- groups:
- Community, News and Politics, Politics, Tech, 1 more
-
- tags:
- Internet, FCC, Net Neutrality, Broadband, 5 more
-
-
EthicalVegan
-
-
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40756299/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
FCC set to back Internet traffic rules
Decision would allow Internet providers to restrict network trafficBy Jasmin Melvin
Reuters
updated 12/20/2010 7:11:05 PM ET 2010-12-21T00:11:05WASHINGTON — U.S. communications regulators were poised to adopt Internet traffic rules on Tuesday that would allow providers to ration access to their networks.
Federal Communications Commission members Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn issued statements on Monday saying they would support the proposal laid out by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski early this month despite some misgivings.
The rules would ban high-speed Internet providers like Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications from blocking lawful traffic, while recognizing the need to manage network congestion and perhaps charge based on Internet usage.
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal, which is in negotiations to be acquired by Comcast.)
The rules, to be somewhat looser for wireless Internet, could help cable companies in competition with plans by Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Amazon.com to deliver competing video content over the same Internet lines the cable companies run to customers' homes.
Charging consumers more for data-intensive tasks like downloading videos could tip the economics of Internet-delivered television back toward cable. The FCC said it would monitor usage-based pricing for abuses.
"Without regulation, rates could go up and up and up and emerging providers like Netflix and Hulu could have problems attracting users," said Daniel Ernst, an analyst at Hudson Square Research.
Level 3 Communications, a company that helps Netflix Inc stream videos online, has already accused Comcast of charging it unfair fees to deliver content to Comcast subscribers.
The FCC's ability to regulate the Internet has been in doubt since an appeals court in April said the agency lacked the authority to stop Comcast from blocking bandwidth-hogging applications.
Court challenges are also expected over this latest rule-making effort, although senior FCC officials have said they will invoke new legal arguments not employed in the Comcast case.
Public interest groups were skeptical of the protections for consumers under the traffic rules.
"These rules appear to be flush with giant loopholes," said Craig Aaron, managing director of Free Press, who accused Genachowski of favoring the endorsement of industry over the public interest.
Story: FCC plan may stunt Internet TV servicesQualified backing
Copps had wanted the FCC to reclassify Internet traffic under tougher rules applying to telephone service, while Clyburn has said she is uneasy about giving wireless Internet providers more freedom to manage their networks than wireline services.
"While I cannot vote wholeheartedly to approve the item, I will not block it by voting against it," Copps said in a statement on Monday.
Clyburn said in a separate statement that the rules, "while not as strong as they could be, will nonetheless protect consumers as they explore, learn, and innovate online."
Support from Copps and Clyburn would give Genachowski the votes he needs to overcome expected opposition from the agency's two Republicans.
Senior FCC officials said the "open" Internet order, to be considered Tuesday at a public FCC meeting, will give both landline and mobile broadband services the flexibility to "reasonably" manage their networks.
They told a briefing for reporters that the order would institute a no-blocking policy for landline Internet providers that covers all lawful content, applications, services and devices, the senior officials said.
Landline services would also be prohibited from discriminating against bandwidth-heavy content. Senior FCC officials said this provision would help prevent paid prioritization of content, where Internet providers charge websites more to reach users quickly.
The rule for wireless carriers, reflecting limited bandwidth and a more recent technology, only bans the blocking of access to websites, or competing voice and video applications.
- 1 year ago
-
EthicalVegan
