Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
FCC Can Not Enforce Net Neutrality – What Happens Next?
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 by Bryan Anderson
The internet may be buzzing about iPad-consumer interaction
videos, but the FCC and net neutrality activists are sure at a loss
(for words). Today, the US Court has sided with Comcast in a ruling
that states the FCC does not have authority to impose regulations
on internet service providers.
Engadget.com gives a good situation overview: the FCC ordered Comcast to stop
filtering Bittorrent back in 2008, at which point Comcast filed a
suit saying the FCC didn't have authority to intervene. The ruling
today claims there's no specific law that gives authority to the
FCC for internet regulation. The FCC made a case for using its
"ancillary powers," allowing them to perform actions required to
fulfill their role, but the Court ruled this was not good
enough.
According to the Wasington Post, this also sparks questions on how the agency will
respond. Public interest groups are suggesting the FCC move
services into a regulatory regime, establishing clear agency
control.
More importantly, they claim this "unleashes a broader debate
over the agency's ability to regulate broadband service providers
such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications."
There have certainly been many voices speaking out on the latest
ruling. Here are some point of views and more information:
- Gizmodo.com - "The doomsday scenario
without net neutrality is pretty ugly. At bare minimum,
it means that the FCC can't tell ISPs not to favor or discriminate
against one service or kind of traffic over another. For
instance, totally hypothetically, now that Comcast,
via its NBC shares, owns a chunk of Hulu, it could give network
priority to Hulu over Netflix Watch Instantly
streaming. "
- Computerworld.com - Gigi Sohn, president of
Public Knowledge, a digital rights group that complained to the FCC
about Comcast's traffic throttling: "Today's appeals court decision
means there are no protections in the law for consumers' broadband
services. Companies selling Internet access are free to play
favorites with content on their networks, to throttle certain
applications or simply to block others."
- CRN.com - FCC spokesperson Jen Howard :
"Today's court decision invalidated the prior Commission's approach
to preserving an open Internet, but the Court in no way disagreed
with the importance of preserving a free and open Internet; nor did
it close the door to other methods for achieving this important
end."
What's your opinion regarding net neutrality? Is this as big of
a deal as public figures are making it? Will this stall the
Broadband Plan that Obama has laid out (and we discussed)?
Give us your thoughts - leave a comment!
Until next time -
Matthew Hymel
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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