September 2014

How the ‘Internet Slowdown’ is supposed to work

On Sept 10, forces aligned in favor of stronger net neutrality rules will rally under the banner of Internet Slowdown Day, the latest push to funnel the public's attention to the Federal Communication Commission's on-going rulemaking on open Internet principles and practices.

First things first. Slowdown Day will not feature any actual slowing down of the Internet. The reason it won't? The same reason why this is a fascinating moment in the history of Internet activism. Companies participating in the protest, like Vimeo, Etsy and reddit, have become the digital infrastructure of the Internet age. Slowing down their services is likely to anger their audiences (not to mention, in some cases, their shareholders). In other words, they've become essential -- Too Big to Slow? -- but that also gives them enormous power. They have the ability to draw millions upon millions of eyeballs to the spinning loading icon that will be featured on their sites. A spinning logo is one way that Web sites and Web users will be participating. Another is changing one's avatar, on Twitter or Facebook or what have you, to the icon. The hope is that the action will spread like a contagion, if one given a little push.

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For September 2014 Open Meeting

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the following items will tentatively be on the agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 30, 2014:

Sports Blackout Rules: The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would eliminate the Commission’s sports blackout rules, which can prevent consumers from watching their teams’ games on local television.
Comprehensive Review of Licensing and Operating Rules for Satellite Services: The Commission will consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to streamline and update Part 25 of the Commission’s rules, which governs licensing and operation of space stations and earth stations for the provision of satellite communication services. These proposals will amend, clarify or eliminate numerous rule provisions and reduce regulatory burdens.
Part 15 NPRM: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to revise rules for unlicensed operations in the TV bands and new 600 MHz Band, including fixed and personal/portable white space devices and unlicensed microphones. The proposed changes and new rules are intended to allow more robust and spectrally efficient unlicensed operations without increasing the risk of harmful interference to other users.
Wireless Microphones NPRM: The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address the needs of wireless microphone users, while recognizing that they must share spectrum with other wireless uses in an increasingly crowded spectral environment.

Sack the NFL's blackout rule

[Commentary] With the first weekend of professional football in the books, two things should be abundantly clear: The NFL is king; and the Federal Communication Commission's sports blackout rules are obsolete and have to go. The NFL no longer needs the government's help to remain viable. And we at the FCC shouldn't be complicit in preventing sports fans from watching their favorite teams on TV. It's time to sack the sports blackout rules for good.

FCC Circulating Quartet of Incentive Auction Items

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering & Technology and Media Bureau have teed up three incentive auction-related items for the commissioners vetting and eventual vote.

The moves are the latest in the FCC's pledge in a May auction report and order of a series of subsequent actions in preparation for the mid-2015 broadcast incentive auction. The actions comprise three notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM's) and one final order, and deal with inter- and intra-service interference, unlicensed spectrum, wireless microphones and low-power TV's. Drafts are being circulated among the commissioners, so they have not been made public yet, but an FCC official spoke about them on background.

Prepared Remarks of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, 2014 CTIA Show

The Federal Communications Commission’s previous Open Internet rules distinguished between fixed and mobile, and our tentative conclusion in this new rulemaking suggested the Commission should maintain the same approach going forward. In this proceeding, however, we specifically recognized that there have been significant changes in the mobile marketplace since 2010. We sought comment about whether these changes should lead us to revise our treatment of mobile broadband services. The basic issue that is raised is whether the old assumptions upon which the 2010 rules were based match new realities.

Here is a sample of the kinds of issues raised in this context:

What is the impact of LTE – a service promoted as offering Internet connectivity at faster speeds?
Does it make a difference that when the rules vacated by the Verizon case were written there were 200,000 LTE subscribers and today there are 120 million, with build-out complete to 300 million Americans?
What is the impact of the dramatic switch to smart devices for wireless Internet access? Our Open Internet proceeding will look closely at both the question of what is “reasonable” and the related subject of how network management practices can be transparent to consumers and edge providers.

Network neutrality and mobile broadband innovation

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission’s approach to network neutrality, and especially the more stringent rules for which many Open Internet proponents have pushed, may ultimately inhibit consumer choice. Net neutrality has focused ostensibly upon protecting competition and innovation in the market for Internet-based content and applications. But to do so, the movement would dramatically limit innovation in the market for broadband service: broadband providers would generally be required to offer customers access to all Internet access or none at all, and to treat all Internet traffic relatively identically.

[Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School]

Activists Seek FCC Field Hearings on Network Neutrality

The ACLU, Common Cause, Consumers Union and more than two dozen other groups have asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to "get out of DC." They want him to get outside Washington and hold some public hearings on the network neutrality rules he is preparing.

In a letter to Chairman Wheeler, the groups said they are concerned that the proposed new rules, which would disallow commercially unreasonable discrimination, leave room for "discrimination in favor of wealthy companies." But the groups are also concerned about a future FCC making those commercially reasonable judgment calls. “An often invisible agency is about to decide the future of our news and information ecosystem. It must not make an invisible decision,” said former FCC Chairman Michael Copps, a special adviser to Common Cause. “The Commission hears more than enough from inside-the-Beltway lobbyists. Now it needs to hear from the people who will have to live with its decisions.”

Tech companies warn Web rules would be ‘extremely disruptive’

Nearly three dozen major technology manufacturers and suppliers are warning the Obama Administration against tough new regulations on broadband Internet companies.

Deciding to regulate broadband Internet service like a public utility would be “extremely disruptive” to the industry and could lead to worse service for everyone, the 33 companies wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. “Resources that would normally be spent on building and improving infrastructure would instead be spent complying with burdensome regulatory obligations, and uncertainty regarding future profitability would deter additional private investments,” wrote the companies. “If investment in broadband services declines, it will set off a domino effect of decreased investment and innovation…” Major firms like Cisco, IBM and Intel were among the companies that signed the letter.

Get ready: The Senate is about to hold a hearing on net neutrality

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on network neutrality on September 17.

"Open Internet rules are the Bill of Rights for the online world," said Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT). "It is crucial that rules are put in place to protect consumers, online innovators and free speech." Some may notice that the 17th is just two days after the Federal Communications Commission's next deadline for public comments on net neutrality.

Broadband policy history reflects unusual bipartisanship

[Commentary] All eyes are on the Federal Communications Commission, which has a pending rule-making that some argue should lead to the FCC reclassifying broadband as a regulated common carrier service rather than as a deregulated information service. What's often not told is the story of how this policy foundation was developed.

For nearly 50 years, a consistent and durable policy framework for new communications technologies has been established and implemented. Equally important, it has been supported by a bipartisan consensus spanning several eras of Democrats and Republicans alike. As our nation continues to write the history of the Internet, we should consider carefully what has worked so well for so long. A restrained regulatory approach, as history demonstrates, may be the best option moving forward.

[Brotman teaches at Harvard Law School and is a nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution.]

Benton

Search