netneutrality

Privacy is absolute, security is relative. Or so FCC hints

7 October 2016 by Steve Blum
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Sûreté, non pas tant.

Internet service providers – mobile, wireline and fixed wireless – will finally have well defined privacy protection standard to meet if the Federal Communications Commission approves new rules proposed yesterday by chairman Tom Wheeler. Naturally, he only released his own summary; the actual draft rules weren’t released. The FCC keeps details of decisions secret from the public until after they vote. And until after they’ve discussed those details with deep pocketed lobbyists stakeholders.… More

Telecoms companies don't manage information, they just transmit data

3 August 2016 by Steve Blum
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Honest, dude. You’re a dumb pipe.

There’s one big question at the center of the wrangling over whether Internet access can be regulated under common carrier rules: is it a telecommunications service or an information service? Federal law says telecommunications is a common carrier service and information is not.

When telecom laws were last overhauled 20 years ago, Internet access looked a lot like an information service. Nearly everyone dialled up an online service – America Online or Earthlink, for example – that, at a minimum, handled your email and provided a portal to proprietary data, public but non-Internet protocol content such as Usenet groups, and FTP and other servers, as well as the world wide web.… More

Your freedom of speech belongs to you, not your ISP

1 August 2016 by Steve Blum
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Freedom means what?

The most dangerous argument against treating Internet access as a common carrier service was made by a Texas wireless Internet service provider last Friday. In a petition asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision to uphold the Federal Communications Commission’s common carrier rules for broadband, Alamo Broadband made the outrageous claim that its First Amendment rights were violated because its right to freedom of speech includes the right to decide what its subscribers can and can’t see on the Internet.… More

Whose network is the network now?

31 July 2016 by Steve Blum
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No network to see here. Move along.

One of the six requests for another appellate court review of the Federal Communications Commission decision to regulate broadband as a common carrier service came from the mobile industry’s lobbying front, CTIA. It objects to being under the same regulatory umbrella as plain old telephone service, as do some of the other appellants.

CTIA’s argument hinges on what the definition of public switched network really is – under federal law, mobile broadband can only be regulated as a common carrier service when connected to it.… More

Industry asks appeals court to reconsider broadband common carrier rules

30 July 2016 by Steve Blum
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Politics? Moi?

The next round of legal challenges to the newly upheld decision to treat broadband as a common carrier service have been filed. Alamo Broadband, AT&T, the Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA), the National Cable Television Association (NCTA), TechFreedom and the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) are asking the federal appeals court in Washington, DC to reconsider its earlier ruling and have all eleven of its active judges re-hear the case, instead of just the three that heard it earlier.… More

Net neutrality decision boosts FCC muni preemption case, but not enough

21 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Still not going anywhere.

The federal appeals court ruling that upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s common carrier and network neutrality rules for broadband did collateral damage to the State of Tennessee’s attempt to overturn the FCC’s preemption of state restrictions on local municipal broadband initiatives. But it doesn’t appear fatal, or even particularly serious.

At the same 2015 meeting where it voted to regulate broadband as a common carrier service, the FCC also decided to toss out state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that prevented two muni fiber systems from expanding into neighboring jurisdictions.… More

The FCC didn't forbear from broadband rate regulation

19 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Not everybody gets through at the same time.

Republicans in the U.S. house of representatives want to write a ban on FCC broadband rate regulations into law. But that simple step would have far reaching implications for the net neutrality restrictions the FCC placed on ISPs. As the dissenting judge in the latest appellate court case wrote, it’s not just about how much an ISP can charge subscribers…

The [FCC] (at least for the moment) allows ISPs to provide consumers differing levels of service at differing prices.

… More

Dissenting judge calls FCC net neutrality decision watery thin

17 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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And hanging by the barest of threads

Tuesday’s decision by a federal appeals court to uphold the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to regulate broadband as a common carrier service was not unanimous. The dissenting judge made three points in his counter-opinion. Two are spot on and the third is a judgement call, one that the other two judges who heard the appeal fairly didn’t buy.

Stephen Williams agreed with his two colleagues – Sri Srinivasan and David Tatel – that the FCC can reclassify Internet access and make it a telecommunications service which is potentially subject to detailed regulatory oversight.… More

Broadband is a common carrier service, says federal appeals court

15 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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It’s all about customer perception.

Call it two and a half out of three. That was the vote by a panel of federal appeals court judges as they tossed out challenges by a wide range of Internet service providers, and ruled that the Federal Communications Commission acted legally when it said broadband is a telecommunications service, rather than an information service, and imposed common carrier regulations on broadband service last year.

Two judges were completely in favor of the new rules, and the third agreed with some of their reasoning but dissented on other points.… More

Posted: appeals court decision affirming FCC net neutrality, common carrier rules

14 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Update:

The appeals court is putting its decision on hold for seven days, to allow time for further appeals. As a practical matter, it doesn’t mean much: the FCC’s broadband common carrier rules have been in effect all along and will remain in effect.

You can download the decision here:

United States Telecom Association, Et Al., Petitioners
V.
Federal Communications Commission And United States Of America,
Respondents
Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance, Et Al.,
Intervenors

184 pages – good reading!… More