netneutrality

Zero chance of FCC zero rating opinion mattering

13 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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Just leave it in the in-box.

AT&T’s and Verizon’s practices of offering video programming and then giving subscribers free – zero rated – bandwidth to watch it “present significant risks to consumers and competition” according to a report prepared by Federal Communications Commission staff and destined for a quick trip to the recycling bin. Zero rating wasn’t explicitly banned by the commission’s 2015 decision to classify broadband as a common carrier service, but it wasn’t given a clean bill of health either.… More

Republican congressmen plan their own kind of telecoms policy activism

10 January 2017 by Steve Blum
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“Over the last several years, what we’ve seen has been lot of reaction in congress, reacting to things. What I think we’re going to see now more is planning”, said Bob Latta, a republican representative from Ohio, who holds a key telecoms committee portfolio in Washington, D.C. He was on a four-congressman panel at CES, talking about the reconfigured Federal Communications Commission. It will begin the Trump administration with a republican majority and, Latta expects, commissioner Ajit Pai installed as chairman.… More

Broadband, conduit bills left stranded in Washington, D.C.

13 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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The 114th congress ended with a stack of unfinished broadband business. The most consequential might be the failure to confirm Jessica Rosenworcel for a new term on the Federal Communications Commission, but buried in the wreckage of more than a dozen broadband-related bills are hints of what to expect from the new congress and the new administration next year.

The one major bill with a chance to pass muster with lawmakers as well as the white house was the Mobile Now act.… More

Another net neutrality skeptic lands at the FCC

3 December 2016 by Steve Blum
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Telecoms policy solidifies.

A third, like minded crew member beamed down to the Trump transition’s landing team at the Federal Communications Commission this week. Roslyn Layton was named to the volunteer position and, together with previous appointees Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison, will help manage the transition from an Obama-appointed democratic majority to a Trump-appointed republican one.

Like Jamison and Eisenach, Layton has links to the American Enterprise Institute, a right-of-center consulting shop, and works as a consultant and in academia, albeit with a thin scholarly resume.… More

To drain the telecoms swamp, first stop filling it

16 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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The buzz around the incoming Trump administration’s telecoms policy is centering on Jeffrey Eisenach, a consultant to Verizon and apparently the man in charge of picking key staffers and, ultimately, commissioners at the FCC. He’s also been affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute – a conservative Washington, DC think tank – and in that capacity co-authored a white paper with a number of colleagues there that calls for drastically shrinking the Federal Communications Commission.

The paper is animated by a fear of regulatory overreach resulting from a federal court decision involving – surprise!… More

Update: Pai can keep FCC seat through 2017

11 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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I made a mistake about FCC terms in this story (click here). FCC commissioners can stay in office for up to two years after their terms expire (until “the expiration of the next session of Congress subsequent to the expiration of said fixed term of office”). That changes Ajit Pai’s position – he’s good through 2017 unless a replacement is appointed – and extends Mignon Clyburn’s and Tom Wheeler’s potential terms through 2019. That changes the chess board a bit, but not the main point of the story: Wheeler is out as chairman in January and must resign before the end of the year if Rosenworcel is to continue as a commissioner.

Wheeler's FCC agenda hits the wall in December

10 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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If he doesn’t pull the trigger, someone will do it for him.

The Federal Communications Commission will look a lot different come January, as chairman Tom Wheeler either resigns or is shoved aside. With a republican president set to take office, the priority will be to clear enough seats on the five member commission to give the new administration a three-vote majority.

Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel will be out of a job at the end of year, unless the republican-led senate votes to confirm her.… More

Consumers must have clear choices under new broadband privacy rules

4 November 2016 by Steve Blum
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Gobbledygook not allowed.

The Federal Communications Commission has finally published the actual privacy rules for Internet service providers it approved at last week’s meeting. In more than 200 tightly packed pages, the FCC tries to offer detailed definitions of what kind of information ISPs can’t share or use without explicit, opt-in approval from customers, what kind is usable with assumed, opt-out permission, and what kind is exempt from either.

There’s a big loophole that the FCC only partially closes: charging customers different prices based on whether or not they give up their privacy rights.… More

FCC approves stricter consumer privacy rules for ISPs and telcos

28 October 2016 by Steve Blum
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Secure shopping.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3 to 2 along party lines yesterday to implement privacy requirements for Internet service providers. If your ISP wants to, say, sell your web browsing history to Facebook, it will need to get your permission first. Facebook, on the other hand, will still be running under the Federal Trade Commission’s looser rules, since it’s an edge provider and isn’t regulated by the FCC.

We don’t know what the rules actually say – that’s a secret, despite the open vote – but a revised summary released afterwards clears up a few outstanding questions.… More

ISPs should need permission to sell to sell subscriber privacy

26 October 2016 by Steve Blum
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Your choice to make.

Mystery continues to swirl around privacy regulations for Internet service providers. The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on new rules at its meeting tomorrow, but with only a vague summary released to the public, no one outside of chairman Tom Wheeler’s circle of trust knows the details. One particular issue – the ability of ISPs to share your web browsing history – bears watching.

The FCC’s summary pegs web browsing history as the sort of sensitive information that ISPs will have to keep private, unless subscribers give positive permission – opt in – to share it.… More