netneutrality

Free speech “hypocrisy” won’t end with a new FCC or new administration

30 October 2020 by Steve Blum
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Open internet dont tread on me 2

It’s an odd twist of logic that says the Federal Communications Commission can’t regulate Internet service or facilities, but it can be the Internet content cop. But that’s the position that FCC chair Ajit Pai is taking in regards to what is known as Section 230 – a bit of federal communications law that shields Internet platforms, like Facebook, from liability for content posted by their customers. The urge that drives him is near universal among major party politicians in Washington, D.C.… More

FCC proposes to pat its own back for a net neutrality repeal well done

13 October 2020 by Steve Blum
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In a rush to approve as much of the republican majority’s agenda as possible before next month’s election, the Federal Communications Commission published several draft decisions last week, that will presumably be approved at its next meeting, on 27 October 2020. Included in that batch is a draft of a clean-up ruling that addresses problems a federal appeals court found with its 2017 network neutrality repeal. None of the issues were considered serious enough to nullify the repeal, but the court did tell the FCC to fix them.… More

No power to regulate broadband means the FCC has no power to preempt California’s net neutrality law

23 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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California is firing back at the monopoly model telecoms companies that want to block the state’s network neutrality law. Senate bill 822 was passed by the legislature and signed by governor Jerry Brown in 2018. It’s been on hold while a court fight over the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of its own net neutrality rules played out.

Now it’s in front of a federal judge in Sacramento. The job of defending SB 822 belongs to California attorney general Xavier Becerra.… More

AT&T guilty of obfuscation, delay, deception, inaccuracy, evasion, omission and contradiction regarding 911 service, CPUC says

8 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Bluto pencils

AT&T has to pay a $3.75 million fine because of its “pattern of obfuscation, delay, and deception” in dealing with the California Public Utilities Commission, and the “inaccuracy, evasion, omission, and contradiction” in its description of its 911 service. The core issue was whether AT&T is required to file particular paperwork regarding next generation 911 services. The answer from the CPUC is an emphatic yes. AT&T’s refusal to do so and the manner in which it refused earned it the multimillion dollar fine.… More

Net neutrality returns to California, in law and in court

12 August 2020 by Steve Blum
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Zero rating destroys internet

Once again, network neutrality is law of the land in California, although there’s not much practical effect yet. Two years ago, the California legislature passed and governor Jerry Brown signed senate bill 822, authored by Scott Wiener (D – San Francisco). It bans blocking, throttling and paid prioritisation of Internet traffic on the basis of content, including specifically zero rating in-house content, as AT&T and other wireless carriers do.

The Trump administration and lobbying fronts for major telecoms companies immediately filed a challenge in a Sacramento federal court.… More

Muni broadband, net neutrality get bland nods in Biden’s peace treaty with Sanders

10 July 2020 by Steve Blum
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Sanders biden

Joe Biden’s campaign agreed to a skeletal broadband policy in what amounts to a peace treaty with Bernie Sanders and his supporters. The “unity task force recommendations” published on Wednesday amount to little more than a declaration that broadband is good, but it’s the first time that Biden has explicitly signed on to any conventional democratic party positions on telecommunications policy.

The document has the usual nice words about broadband being essential to life in the 21st century, with the standard nod to education.… More

AT&T blows off net neutrality as it zero rates HBO Max

12 June 2020 by Steve Blum
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Marvin fire

AT&T is giving its HBO Max streaming service a free ride on its mobile broadband network. The bandwidth consumed by AT&T mobile customers while watching HBO Max programming won’t be counted against their monthly data caps. According to a story in The Verge by Nilay Patel, AT&T’s streaming competition won’t get the same zero rating treatment…

HBO Max, AT&T’s big bet on the future of streaming, will be excused from AT&T’s mobile data caps, while competing services like Netflix and Disney Plus will use up your data…

AT&T…confirmed to The Verge that HBO Max will be excused from the company’s traditional data caps and the soft data caps on unlimited plans.

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Cable, mobile companies fight rollback of perks they’ve paid California lawmakers big bucks to write

8 June 2020 by Steve Blum
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Special privileges that cable companies and mobile carriers have bought from the California legislature over the years could be rolled back a bit if two bills approved by the California senate’s energy, utilities and communications (EU&C) committee make it into law.

Senate bill 1058, authored by Ben Hueso (D – San Diego), would require “every Internet service provider” (as the legislative counsel’s digest put it) to “file an annual emergency operations plan” with the California Public Utilities Commission.… More

It became necessary to govern free speech to save it

29 May 2020 by Steve Blum
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Trump 625

“It became necessary to destroy the town to save it”.

Unidentified U.S. army major to Associated Press reporter Peter Arnett, Bến Tre, Republic of South Vietnam, 7 February 1968.

The freedom to express and debate ideas is the foundation for all of our rights as a free people…It is the policy of the United States to foster clear ground rules promoting free and open debate on the internet. Prominent among the ground rules governing that debate is the immunity from liability created by section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act.

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AT&T blasts loopholes as it tries to escape $3.75 million fine in California

13 May 2020 by Steve Blum
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As expected, AT&T appealed a 3.75 million fine levied by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge for “wilful disregard” of its public safety obligations. The penalty followed months of wrangling with CPUC staff over what kind of information AT&T is required to provide about services, such as 911 emergency calls, that ride on voice over Internet protocol technology (VoIP).

AT&T’s appeal dives headfirst into the minutia of how 911 service is provided now, and how it will be provided once it’s completely switched over from legacy plain old telephone service (POTS) to modern digital technology.… More