netneutrality

Cable lobby argues California lawmakers should bless Internet slow lanes

25 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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Cable operators want to sell Internet fast lanes to those who are are willing to pay, thereby consigning those who don’t to the slow lane. That was the clear message from Carolyn McIntyre, the president of the California Cable and Telecommunications Association, which is the main lobbying front for Comcast, Charter and most other cable operators in the state. She spoke out against senate bill 460 – a network neutrality revival bill introduced by senator Kevin de Leon (D – Los Angeles) – during a senate judiciary committee hearing yesterday.… More

Montana makes a fast play for net neutrality

24 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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While the California legislature is just beginning work on a network neutrality revival, Montana has already put its own version into effect. Montana governor Steve Bullock issued an executive order on Monday that bakes net neutrality rules into state contracting requirements.

If any company wants to sell telecommunications to the State of Montana it has to publicly disclose its network traffic management policies and other terms of service. Providers cannot:

  1. Block lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, subject to reasonable network management that is disclosed to the consumer;
  2. Throttle, impair or degrade lawful internet traffic on the basis ofinternet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, subject to reasonable network management that is disclosed to the consumer;
  3. Engage in paid prioritization; or
  4. Unreasonably interfere with or unreasonably disadvantage: a.
… More

Now it's trial lawyers who are tagged as California's broadband cops

23 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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Update: SB 460 has been bucked to the California senate’s judiciary committee, where it’s due for a hearing tomorrow morning (Wednesday, 24 Jan 2018).

The latest version of a bill that aims to reinstate a network neutrality regime in California allows consumers to sue broadband companies that don’t abide by the three “bright line rules” that were thrown out last month by the Federal Communications Commission: no blocking, throttling or paid prioritisation.

The California senate’s appropriations committee’s endorsement of senate bill 460 last week included a promise to find a more appropriate net neutrality enforcer than the California Public Utilities Commission, as originally planned.… More

New York, California, 19 other states stake out legal grounds for net neutrality appeal

20 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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California’s attorney general (AG), Xavier Becerra, joined a speculative lawsuit launched by his New York counterpart aimed at overturning the Federal Communication Commission’s decision to end broadband’s status as a common carrier service and eliminate network neutrality rules. Becerra’s press release might lead you to believe it was his idea, but it was New York AG Eric Schneiderman who led the effort and then convinced AGs from 20 other states, including California, to sign on.… More

Prosecutors in, CPUC out as California's net neutrality enforcer

19 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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Democrats and republicans in Sacramento agree on at least two things: network neutrality rules are good and the job of enforcing them shouldn’t go to the California Public Utilities Commission. The California senate’s appropriations committee gave senate bill 460 a green light, and sent it on for a formal floor vote yesterday, after wrangling a promise of significant changes.

Senator Kevin de Leon (D – Los Angeles) authored SB 460. As originally written, it would have revived net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission scrapped last month.… More

California senate leadership will decide if net neutrality goes to a vote

17 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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A bill to reinstate network neutrality rules in California is in legislative limbo. The senate appropriations committee put senate bill 460 into the suspense file, where it’ll sit until the end of the week. At that point the committee, in consultation with senate leadership, will decide whether it will move on to a floor vote.

Opinions split along party lines on the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to roll back broadband’s status as a common carrier service, and in the process eliminate rules that banned paid prioritisation, throttling and blocking of Internet traffic.… More

Governors agree scrapping net neutrality was wrong, but differ on role of states

16 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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The end of network neutrality and broadband’s status as a common carrier service doesn’t sit well with a pair of western governors. Speaking during the National Governors Association summit held alongside CES in Las Vegas last week, Nevada governor Brian Sandoval and Montana governor Steve Bullock both thought it was a bad decision by the Federal Communications Commission, but had different views on whether net neutrality is something that can be addressed at the state level.… More

Futile or not, California senate committee approves net neutrality bill

15 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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Network neutrality rules were endorsed by the California senate’s energy, utilities and communications committee last week. On a 7 to 2 party line vote – democrats aye, republicans nay –the committee approved senate bill 460, by senator Kevin de Leon (D – Los Angeles). It would reinstate the net neutrality requirements that the Federal Communications Commission repealed last month.

The bill is supported by consumer advocacy groups, and opposed by telecoms companies, including AT&T, Frontier Communications and Comcast’s and Charter’s lobbying front, the California Cable and Telecommunications Association (although someone needs to check in with Comcast – it has not ruled out paid prioritisation, as CCTA’s chief lobbyist, Carolyn McIntyre, testified).… More

New broadband top cop talks and walks a narrow beat

11 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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Death threats kept Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai away from CES, but the acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Maureen Ohlhausen, sat down for an interview on Tuesday with Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro. Her agency is responsible for broadband consumer protection enforcement, after the FCC bucked the job over last month. Appropriately, Shapiro opened with a couple of questions about network neutrality.

Ohlhausen said her concern is transparency – service can be pretty much anything so long as terms are disclosed – and the FTC will look at one basic question: whether consumers get what they’re promised.… More

FCC swings a policy sledgehammer at local governments in 2018

10 January 2018 by Steve Blum
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They might have ducked substantive statements about network neutrality, but two members of the Federal Communications Commission had a lot to say yesterday about local governments. Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Mignon Clyburn clashed during an FCC panel discussion at CES, which also included their colleague, Brendan Carr. O’Rielly and Carr are two-thirds of the republican majority on the commission; Clyburn is a democrat.

When asked about what plans he has for 2018, particularly regarding removing barriers to broadband deployment, O’Rielly pointed directly at local governments.… More