Klint Finley

Rather than rendering network neutrality obsolete, the Covid-19 crisis reminds us why it’s such an important principle. The crisis shows that even in dire circumstances, internet companies can provide a neutral network. In Dec 2017, Net neutrality opponents claimed that regulating internet providers like telephone companies had hurt broadband infrastructure investment and that dropping the rules would spur more investment. Other critics warned that broadband providers needed to be able to prioritize certain types of content to prevent internet slowdowns.

This digital divide has always left children and adults alike with fewer educational and economic opportunities. But with schools, libraries, and workplaces closed during the coronavirus pandemic, those without broadband are struggling to access schoolwork, job listings, unemployment benefit applications, and video chat services that others use to keep in touch with friends and family. For those on the wrong side of the digital divide, working from home isn’t an option.

Netflix says it will lower the quality of its video streams in Europe in an effort to preserve bandwidth for more essential online activities. But early data shows that most US broadband providers, and many elsewhere, are standing up to the surge in internet traffic generated by the many people stuck at home amid the Covid-19 pandemic. At least for now. 

The organization managing .org addresses is Public Interest Registry (PIR). It’s one of several so-called top-level registrars managing the internet’s address book on behalf of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Now, PIR could be sold to a for-profit company that’s attracted protesters and the attention of California’s attorney general. Since its creation in 2002, PIR has been part of a nonprofit called The Internet Society.

AT&T is launching its new 5G service Dec 13 in 10 cities, including Los Angeles (CA), San Francisco (CA), and San Jose (CA). Notably, the service is based on real 5G standards, unlike AT&T’s earlier "5G Evolution" offering, which in reality was just a variety of 4G. Still, AT&T concedes that the new service for now will only deliver speeds comparable to “5G Evolution”—about 158 Mbps, or roughly similar to the fastest available 5G service in the US offered by competitor T-Mobile.

The Federal Communications Commission recently published a plan to auction off unused wireless spectrum originally set aside for schools. Only about half of this chunk of spectrum, now known as the Educational Broadband Service (EBS) has been licensed to schools or educational organizations. Education groups and the wireless industry have been asking the FCC to license the rest for years. Under the new plan, schools and educational organizations that already have EBS licenses will be able to keep them or sell them to commercial carriers.

A Q&A with former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. 

It's been one year since the Federal Communications Commission voted to gut its net neutrality rules. The good news is that the internet isn't drastically different than it was before. But that's also the bad news: The net wasn't always so neutral to begin with. Broadband providers didn't make any drastic new moves to block or cripple the delivery of content after the FCC's order.

Does California have authority to impose net neutrality rules? Both the US Department of Justice and the broadband industry claim that the inherently interstate nature of the internet means that only the federal government can regulate broadband services. A second, even thornier question is whether the Federal Communications Commission was within its rights when it effectively banned states from adopting net neutrality rules. At its heart is this conundrum: In repealing the Obama-era rules, the FCC said it didn’t have authority to impose net neutrality regulations.

Charles "Chip" Pickering, a conservative Republican former member of Congress and CEO of a telecommunications-industry group called Incompas, supports net neutrality. Under Pickering's leadership, Incompas has been a steadfast defender of 2015 rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission that ban broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon from blocking or discriminating against lawful content. That’s placed it at odds with other industry groups working to undermine efforts to mandate net neutrality.Incompas  itself is something of a paradox.