Trav is right > they have done a 180
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The big kerfuffle in the tech space over the past week has been the reaction to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s article in Wired, titled “This Is How We Will Ensure Net Neutrality.”
The FCC has been wrestling with the issue since January of last year, when an appeals court dismissed its 2010 Open Internet order as exceeding its authority. The original response, crafted by Wheeler—a former cable and cellphone industry lobbyist—featured a revision that would have allowed ISPs to charge content companies for an online fast lane, provided that such arrangements didn’t hurt consumers or competition.
That plan sparked a significant backlash after John Oliver lampooned it in a hilarious June 2014 segment of his Last Week Tonight show, when he compared Wheeler’s plan to “the equivalent of needing a babysitter and hiring a dingo.” The clip got 8 million hits on YouTube. The FCC, which had solicited input, was inundated after Oliver invited viewers to write the agency and broadcast its address. In all, some 4 million people posted public comments, the majority of them negative on the change and in favor of Net Neutrality.
Now, Wheeler has apparently done an about-face. In his statement, he called for “enforceable, bright-line rules [that] will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. I propose to fully apply—for the first time ever—those bright-line rules to mobile broadband.”
That also just happens to be pretty much what President Obama called for back in November, when he advocated reclassifying the Internet as a public utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. The Internet is an essential service, Obama maintained, and there should be no blocking of websites or services, no throttling, no slow lanes, and greater transparency.
Republicans are infuriated. Presidential contender Rand Paul said the plan “gives the FCC the power to decide what Internet service providers can charge and how they operate. This is not only a direct attack on the free market, but it will also result in an increase in Internet access fees for millions of consumers in America. It’s a massive tax on the middle class, plain and simple.” Others, obviously, disagree.
The full FCC won’t vote on the new rules—the actual final wording of which we haven’t yet seen—until February 26. Until then, you can expect a torrent of political posturing. Even afterward, the issue won’t likely be settled. Congress could intervene because it originally granted the FCC the power to regulate the Net. And powerhouse corporations like AT&T and Verizon, which feel slighted, are gearing up for a court fight. Count on the battle dragging on for a long time to come.
[Taken from a news letter I receive]
