EFF Criticizes FCC Plan to Abandon Net Neutrality and ISP Privacy

The chairman of the FCC announced his desire to abandon the agency’s net neutrality protections – which  protect online competition, free speech, and privacy from interference by Internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T – by undermining the legal authority behind those protections. Rolling back the FCC’s Open Internet Order would mean losing the only …

Comcast Fined $2.3M by FCC Over Billing Practices

The FCC’s rules prohibit Comcast and other companies from charging customers for services they didn’t explicitly sign-up for. In other words, just because you didn’t say “no” to a service or a piece of equipment doesn’t mean your telco can charge you for it. But according the settlement, customers were in some cases charged for …

Lawrence E. Strickling on ICANN, IANA: Accountability process needs to include stress tests

Remarks by Assistant Secretary Strickling at the PLI/FCBA Telecommunications Policy & Regulation Institute | NTIA: Excerpts from remarks by Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at the PLI/FCBA Telecommunications Policy & Regulation Institute, Washington, DC, December 4, 2014 (go to the link above for complete copy): “… we [NTIA] play a central …

The FCC Receives in excess of 3 Million Comments on Net Neutrality

The FCC has received more than 3 million comments concerning the current net neutrality notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). That figure is dramatically higher than the previously reported 1.5 million figure that was released last week. The massive jump comes from the FCC chewing through a deluge of comments that were filed last week as …

Twitter, Netflix and Reddit stage net neutrality protest

They are among dozens of firms worried that proposed new regulations will mean extra charges for fast internet access. The US Federal Communications Commission said its proposals were designed to protect net neutrality. Many groups taking part will display the spinning wheel, an icon for slow loading speed, but will run normally. Indicating that it …

Obama Contradicts FCC Chief on Fast Lanes, Net Neutrality Backers Say

The Internet must remain open and accessible to all so that the “next Google and the next Facebook” have the opportunity to succeed, President Barack Obama declared on Tuesday, in his strongest comments on net neutrality since the Federal Communications Commission announced plans to craft new Open Internet rules. “One of the issues around Net Neutrality is whether …

Net Neutrality Just Got Shattered. Will users get reprieve?

Net Neutrality Just Got Sucker-Punched. Will Madison Avenue Get the Bill? Carriage Costs Could Pass to Consumers, Content Companies, Brands By: Tim Peterson for Adage Advertising already subsidizes much of the internet’s content. Soon marketers may underwrite access to it as well. As the internet loads up on data-heavy content like high-definition streaming videos, companies …

Dear Verizon, No one owns the internet, not even you!

If Ford built a private toll highway that only allowed Mustangs, Americans would be outraged. Infrastructure is the bloodstream of an economy; if powerful established players controlled roads, telephone lines, and Internet cables, they could favor the highest bidder at the expense of the savvy entrepreneur, choking off the meritocracy that makes market economies so …

Federal Court Strikes Down Net Neutrality Rules, Sides with Verizon

A U.S. Appeals Court just invalidated the FCC’s net neutrality rules that would’ve made it illegal for telecom companies to favor certain types of traffic over others. The court ruled that the commission lacked the authority to implement and enforce such rules which were embedded in a complicated legal framework. The court describes its reasoning …