Senator Al Franken (D. MN) gains another ally in the fight for net neutrality:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) blasted the Federal Communication Commission's recent proposal to let internet service providers charge for access to their customers, saying it would "gut" the principle of net neutrality.
"We don’t know who is going to have the next big idea in this country, but we’re pretty sure they’re going to need to get online to do it," Warren wrote on her Facebook page Wednesday. "Reports that the FCC may gut net neutrality are disturbing, and would be just one more way the playing field is tilted for the rich and powerful who have already made it."
Last week the FCC announced that it was essentially backing down on plans to force big internet providers to treat everybody alike in their access to internet users. Under the FCC's new position, big data sources like Netflix could be forced to pay for access to customers of ISPs like Verizon.
Warren's voice is the latest to join a chorus of Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) who aren't happy with the FCC proposal, which represents a reversal from President Barack Obama's previous position on net neutrality. But her statement goes a bit further in tying the potential end of net neutrality to her trademark theme of an America rigged against the middle class and for big business. - Huffington Post, 5/1/14
Glad to have her on board. Franken has been out rallying the tech industry to to speak out for net neutrality and to fight back against the Comcast-Time Warner merger:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
In a letter to the trade group Computer & Communications Industry Association, Franken asked for the group's opinion on the $45 billion merger. If approved by federal regulators, Comcast would wind up with 40 percent of the broadband Internet market. Franken said that's too much power in the hands of a single company, which could act as a powerful gatekeeper for Internet content and services into U.S. homes.
"Your organization includes companies from many sectors of our communications and Internet economy, including industry leaders in search, social networking, e-commerce and music and video content delivery. All of these organizations depend on broadband networks to operate," Franken wrote in his letter to CCIA President Ed Black. CCIA's members include Google, Facebook, eBay, Aereo and Yahoo.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable said they have voluntarily shed subscribers to keep their size at a competitive level. They have also said that Internet access rules will keep them from discriminating against video competitors online such as YouTube or Netflix.
But Franken's drumbeat of attention on potential consumer harms from the deal has caught the attention of media and consumer advocates. Franken has emerged as a sort of informal investigator on the merger, even though Congress doesn't officially review the deal. The government agencies responsible for reviewing the deal are the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission. But Franken's probing questions of Web firms such as Netflix have unearthed new insights — and new opponents. - Washington Post, 4/30/14
Of course Wheeler is still claiming his rules do not gut net neutrality:
http://rt.com/...
According to a blog post authored by Wheeler published on the FCC’s official blog on Tuesday, the chairman is committed to making sure proposed open internet rules won’t drastically erode the concept of net neutrality as critics have suggested.
Skeptics have voiced concerns that, if adopted, the draft document’s rules would let Internet Service Providers transmit data to end-users more quickly if the applicable content producers pay more to the ISPs.
Such concerns, Wheeler wrote on Tuesday, miss the point. “The proposed rule is built to ensure that everyone has access to an Internet that is sufficiently robust to enable consumers to access the content, services and applications they demand, as well as an Internet that offers innovators and edge providers the ability to offer new products and services,” he wrote.
Approval of these guidelines would not create a “fast lane” for the web as some have suggested, Wheeler wrote, and any attempts to do as much would be “shut down” by the FCC.
“At the heart of the proposed NPRM is the assurance that it won’t be possible for an Internet provider to degrade the service available to all,” Wheeler wrote. “Let me re-emphasize that: the Internet will remain like it is today, an open pathway. If a broadband provider (ISP) acts in a manner that keeps users from effectively taking advantage of that pathway then it should be a violation of the Open Internet rules.”
On Wednesday, Wheeler told the audience at the annual meeting of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association in Los Angeles that “reports that we are gutting the Open Internet rules are incorrect,” according to TIME.
“If you read some of the press accounts about what we propose to do, those of you who oppose net neutrality might feel like a celebration was in order,” Wheeler said. “Reports that we are gutting the Open Internet rules are incorrect. I am here to say ‘wait a minute.’ Put away the party hats.” - RT, 4/30/14
But again, Franken's not having it:
http://www.siliconbeat.com/...
“Pay-to-play deals are an affront to net neutrality and have no place in an online marketplace that values competition and openness,” Franken said. “This proposal would create an online ‘fast lane’ for the highest bidder — shutting out small businesses and increasing costs for consumers.”
But Wheeler insisted that the course he’s chosen is the best one, at least in the short term. His proposal stands the best chance of getting new net neutrality rules in place quickly, because it takes into account the January court decision while at the same time allowing the agency to avoid having to embark on a time-consuming new regulatory path.
“The recommendation on which we seek comment would result in timely and meaningful Open Internet rules,” Wheeler wrote. “This (proposal) means that consumers, startup innovators, venture capitalists, and others who have been waiting … and waiting … and waiting for the certainty of rules would finally have something on which they can rely.”
Support for net neutrality has been the formal policy of the FCC since the mid 2000s, but that policy has been in a legal morass for years. After finding that Comcast had violated its Open Internet principles in 2007 by blocking legal file trading traffic, the FCC ordered the company to stop. But a federal appeals court overturned that order in 2010 saying that the FCC hadn’t shown that it had the regulatory authority to enforce net neutrality. - Silicon Beat, 4/29/14
Click here to add your name to the Daily Kos petition protecting net neutrality:
https://www.dailykos.com/...
And please do consider donating and getting involved with Franken's re-election bid so he can continue to fight for net neutrality:
http://www.alfranken.com/...