netneutrality

The net neutrality doomsday clock is running again

11 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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Update: the FCC’s notice is here.

June 11th is the day that federal network neutrality rules will end. Probably. The Federal Communications Commission announced yesterday that it will publish the final, required notice today, with an effective date one month from now.

Two long shot attempts to block the FCC are underway.

Democrats (and at least one republican) in the U.S. senate want to enact a resolution of disapproval that would veto the FCC’s republican majority decision late last year to scrap the net neutrality rules it approved three years ago, when it had a democratic majority.… More

Net neutrality debate flares brightly in the U.S. senate

10 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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The U.S. senate will vote on network neutrality, and reinstatement might have enough votes to win the day. But that’s as far as it’ll go.

Yesterday, U.S. senate democrats executed a parliamentary maneuver and forced a full floor vote on a resolution of disapproval aimed at overturning the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to roll back the net neutrality rules adopted in 2015. It’s based on a law, called the Congressional Review Act, that allows congress to veto decisions made by federal agencies.… More

Allowing ISPs to sell your bandwidth to someone else is not economic freedom

5 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) – the Washington, D.C. consulting group that ate the brain of beamed down to the Federal Communications Commission as the Trump administration prepared to take office – is sounding off about paid prioritisation (h/t to the Baller, Stokes & Lide list for the pointer). The fight over that particular concept is shaping up to be the front line of the network neutrality battle as it shifts from the FCC to the courts, congress and the states.… More

California net neutrality law can survive federal challenge, lawmakers told

25 April 2018 by Steve Blum
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The California senate’s judiciary committee approved, on a party line vote, a proposed net neutrality law, after hearing that it was at least defendable against the inevitable court challenges that cable and telephone companies would file. Senate bill 822 would define blocking, throttling, paid prioritisation and paid or provider-specific zero rating as unfair competition, and enforce those rules via civil lawsuits.

The big question was whether a Californian net neutrality law would withstand the Federal Communications Commission’s declaration that it was preempting state level broadband regulations.… More

Muni broadband can defend net neutrality, but winning isn't guaranteed

24 April 2018 by Steve Blum
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Net neutrality and municipal broadband are two separate issues that overlap in a couple of ways. First, there’s an assumption that muni broadband systems will abide by net neutrality principles, even if not required (but there’s a bill in the California legislature, AB 1999, that would require it). It’s an easy pledge to make now, but it’s not a certainty that muni systems could or would swim against the financial tide if the economics of the business changes significantly.… More

California net neutrality bill bends to telco, cable wishes

23 April 2018 by Steve Blum
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It would still ban blocking, throttling, paid prioritisation and some kinds of zero rating, but a California senate committee has pulled some of the sharper enforcement teeth out of a bill to reinstate network neutrality rules. With one exception, though, definitions of banned and permitted practices remain the same.

Senate bill 822 was approved by the senate energy, utilities and communications committee last week on a party line vote, with the condition that undisclosed changes, negotiated behind closed doors, would be made.… More

AT&T, Comcast, Charter get net neutrality help from California senate friends

18 April 2018 by Steve Blum
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Network neutrality legislation moved ahead in the California senate yesterday, but it’s not clear what exactly it says. The senate’s energy, utilities and communications committee worked over senate bill 822, before endorsing it on a party line vote and sending it on to the judiciary committee. As is common practice in Sacramento, the committee didn’t vote on the published text of the bill, carried by senator Scott Wiener (D – San Francisco), but conceptually approved it, based on unpublished amendments negotiated secretly on Monday, which will be further modified by changes yet to be dictated by committee chair Ben Hueso (D – San Diego).… More

Oregon approves its own net neutrality revival

10 April 2018 by Steve Blum
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Beginning next year, local and state government agencies in Oregon won’t be able to buy broadband service from providers that don’t abide by the network neutrality principles signed into law yesterday by Oregon governor Kate Brown. The ban includes wireline, fixed wireless and mobile carriers, and extends to service subsidised by public agencies, as well as direct purchases.

An Internet service provider will be on the blacklist if it…

  • Engages in paid prioritization;
  • Blocks lawful content, applications or services or non-harmful devices;
  • Impairs or degrades lawful Internet traffic for the purpose of discriminating against or favoring certain Internet content, applications or services or the use of non-harmful devices;
  • Unreasonably interferes with or unreasonably disadvantages an end user’s ability to select, access and use the broadband Internet access service or lawful Internet content, applications or services or devices of the end user’s choice; or
  • Unreasonably interferes with or unreasonably disadvantages an edge provider’s ability to make devices or lawful content, applications or services available to end users.
… More

San Francisco court punts net neutrality decision back to D.C.

30 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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It was nice while it lasted, but Washington, D.C.’s inexorable gravity has pulled the court fight over network neutrality – or lack thereof – away from San Francisco and back inside the Beltway.

Originally, a judicial lottery determined that the fifteen challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to roll back network neutrality and broadband status as a common carrier service would be heard by the federal ninth circuit appeals court in San Francisco, where Santa Clara County and the California Public Utilities Commission filed their cases.… More

Telco lobbyists eager to sue states over net neutrality laws

29 March 2018 by Steve Blum
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AT&T, Frontier Communications and other telcos will meet state and local level network neutrality initiatives head on. Using their Washington, D.C. lobbying front, USTelecom, they intend to “aggressively challenge state or municipal attempts to fracture the federal regulatory structure”. Or lack thereof.

In a rambling blog post that oddly invokes the original U.S. Articles of Confederation – it hasn’t had any legal effect for more than 200 years but even so, it explicitly gave states the power to make such decisions – USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter pledges to say “hell no” to any attempt by states or municipalities to revive network neutrality obligations.… More