The FCC passed their Net Neutrality standards yesterday, and nobody seems to like it.
The gist is that the new rules allow the FCC to step in and investigate disputes about how internet service providers manage their networks if they think the ISPs are violating their rules. The problem is, the FCC hasn't even posted the rules yet for the public to see, or hadn't at the time of this post. So we only have a vague idea of what's going on. What we do know is that the rules differ slightly between fixed ISPs and wireless providers. At least for now. But with Internet service trending more and more towards wireless providers, this doesn't look like true "net neutrality" to me.
I was kind of waiting to read the rules for myself before I posted, but I'll just have to follow up when they finally do.
Al Franken calls this issue the "most important free speech issue of our time," and I'm kind of starting to agree with him (though every free speech issue is very important). "...This principle is called 'net neutrality' -- and it's under attack. Internet service giants like Comcast and Verizon want to offer premium and privileged access to the Internet for corporations who can afford to pay for it.
The good news is that the Federal Communications Commission has the power to issue regulations that protect net neutrality. The bad news is that draft regulations written by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski don't do that at all. They're worse than nothing."
I really appreciate the last line in that quote, but I'd like to reserve total judgement until I read the actual rules. Anybody have any interesting insights or specific concerns about this?
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