As we mentioned this morning, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver made a hilariously profane, impassioned plea for Americans to just give a damn and do something about the FCC’s pending net neutrality (aka “cable company f*ckery”) rules. It seems his call didn’t fall on deaf ears, as the FCC’s commenting system appears to be completely overwhelmed and inaccessible to most people. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still e-mail the Commission. [More]
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John Oliver Suggests Renaming “Net Neutrality” To “Cable Company F*ckery”
By 6.2.14
In spite of the fact that the current debate over net neutrality is one of the most important issues facing America right now, it’s not easy to get people to give a damn about the topic because it involves incredibly dull, complicated regulatory minutiae. Perhaps this calls for a rebranding. [More]
Verizon FiOS Gets Benefits Of Being A Public Utility Without The Regulations
By 5.28.14
As you probably know, Verizon was the company behind the lawsuit that gutted the FCC’s net neutrality rules. The telecom titan successfully argued that the FCC lacked the authority to regulate broadband providers like Verizon FiOS. What was lost in this discussion is the fact that all the while Verizon was saying FiOS should not face the same level of regulation placed on landline phone service, it was enjoying all the perks of being associated with a public utility. [More]
FCC Could Use Mergers To Force Net Neutrality, But Shouldn’t
By 5.23.14
It’s a big year for the FCC. It’s got two huge mergers to review — Comcast/Time Warner Cable, AT&T/DirecTV — while also trying to reinstate the recently gutted net neutrality laws without ticking off the entire Internet. These related issues put the FCC in a position to force some cable operators to accept stricter net neutrality, but that’s really just kicking the can down the road. [More]
FCC Chair’s Proposed Net Neutrality Rule Not Popular At Congressional Hearing
By 5.20.14
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler took the hot seat today in an oversight hearing before the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to testify about current issues before his agency, including net neutrality. The overriding theme of the day? Pretty much everyone who spoke hates the rule the FCC narrowly approved for consideration last week — just for different reasons. [More]
FCC Chair Admits Google Is Doing Better Job Of Encouraging Broadband Than FCC Is
By 5.19.14
FCC Chair Tom Wheeler recently stated that he wants to remove the current blockades to municipal broadband, but considering the bottlenecked, red-tape logjam that is the federal government, that could take some time, especially with the amount of money the cable industry pumps into Congress every election cycle. And tomorrow, Wheeler will apparently tell Congress that the private sector is doing a much better job than the feds at bringing about broadband expansion. [More]
FCC Votes To Approve Net Neutrality Rules With Fast Lanes Intact
By 5.15.14
As predicted, the five FCC commissioners voted 3-2 today to approve Chairman Tom Wheeler’s latest version of the Open Internet rule — better known as net neutrality — with a slightly revised take on so called Internet “fast lanes,” which would have given Internet service providers like Verizon and Time Warner Cable the ability to charge content companies extra for higher priority access to end users. [More]
Let’s Dissect The Cable Industry’s Latest B.S. Argument Against Net Neutrality
By 5.14.14
In spite of the fact that everyone — from Google to 4Chan, from the ACLU to the Harry Potter Alliance — has asked FCC Chair Tom Wheeler to rethink his addle-brained proposal for useless net neutrality, it continues to inch closer to reality, and with the support of lawmakers who are signing their names to a letter drafted by the cable industry that pays them well. [More]
Creators Of Hundreds Of TV Shows Petition FCC To Not Cancel Net Neutrality
By 5.13.14
People in the TV business know what happens when someone in a rush to get something, anything done by a deadline puts out a half-baked product that is doomed to failure. Ask anyone involved with just about any show that has debuted on NBC in the last few years, only to be pulled a few weeks later. So when the minds behind hundreds of TV shows tells the FCC Chairman that his plan for net neutrality needs a rewrite, maybe he should listen. [More]
FCC Chair May Be Softening Stance On Ridiculous Internet Fast Lane Proposal
By 5.12.14
Since it was revealed that FCC Chair Tom Wheeler’s new net neutrality proposal includes allowances for “fast lanes,” in which deep-pocketed content companies can pay extra for faster and better access to customers, he’s taken heat from tech companies, consumer advocates, lawmakers, and even members of his own commission. Now comes news that Wheeler may be up to relaxing his stance on this issue. [More]
Web Host Protests Botched Net Neutrality By Throttling FCC To Dial-Up Speeds
By 5.9.14
The FCC’s pending net neutrality proposal would allow Internet service providers to provide “fast lane” access to websites and online services willing to pay a premium. In response to this idea, which is counter the entire notion of an open Internet, the folks at one web hosting service have decided to open a “slow lane” just for people working at the FCC. [More]
A Second Large Coalition Calls On White House & FCC To Not Screw Up Net Neutrality
By 5.8.14
The day after around 150 Internet and tech companies asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to remove discriminatory loopholes from his net neutrality proposal, another large coalition — comprised of everything from consumer advocates to educators to Reddit to… the Harry Potter Alliance — has written to both Wheeler and President Obama, calling for the FCC to drop the controversial plan to allow Internet “fast lanes.” [More]
Two FCC Commissioners Voice Concerns About Net Neutrality Proposal
By 5.8.14
Next week, the full FCC is scheduled to vote on commission Chairman Tom Wheeler’s controversial proposal for new net neutrality rules. But judging by comments made this week by two of Wheeler’s fellow commissioners, it looks like this proposal won’t be moving forward without changes. [More]
Amazon, Google, Reddit, Netflix, 4Chan, Dozens Others, Plead With FCC To Protect Net Neutrality
By 5.7.14
In perhaps the most motley crew (as opposed to Mötley Crüe) of tech and Internet companies ever assembled for a single cause, around 150 businesses representing everything from content and infrastructure to gaming, crowdfunding and 3-D printing have written the FCC to ask that it not completely screw up net neutrality. [More]
Sen. Al Franken Calls Net Neutrality “The Free Speech Issue Of Our Time”
By 5.7.14
While FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler works to make Verizon’s skewed vision of net neutrality real, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota has made an impassioned plea to the American people to stand up against the notion that deep-pocketed companies should have better and faster access to Internet users than everyone else. [More]
Will FCC Overturn State Laws Blocking Municipal Broadband?
By 5.1.14
Because heaven forbid someone other than cable and phone companies offer quality Internet access, some 20 states have laws that either ban or heavily restrict municipal broadband, and recent attempts to ban muni broadband in Kansas, and Georgia have only failed following public outcry. Yesterday, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler gave some hope that his agency would stop new bans from being put in place, but didn’t mention the fate of the existing laws. [More]
FCC Chairman: I’d Rather Give In To Verizon’s Definition Of Net Neutrality Than Fight
By 4.30.14
With every word he writes, recently installed FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler shows he has little interest or belief in net neutrality as most consumers understand it. In another flimsy attempt at defending his position on “fast lanes” — i.e., allowing Internet service providers to charge more to content companies seeking priority access to end-users — Wheeler contends that consumers should do what Verizon and other telecoms want because well, it could take a while to do it correctly. [More]
You Know Who Made A Great Case Against Internet Fast Lanes? The FCC
By 4.25.14
Judging by new FCC Chair Tom Wheeler’s vision of net neutrality, one might think the commission has no understanding of the very concept it is claiming to try to enforce. But that wasn’t so only a few years ago, when the FCC laid out a version of neutrality that is very, very different from the snake oil Wheeler is attempting to sell as a cure-all tonic. [More]
