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FCC rules broadband internet service a public utility

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Fury Sense

Fury Sense

Member
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/technology/net-neutrality-fcc-vote-internet-utility.html

Mobile data service for smartphones and tablets, in addition to wired lines, is being placed under the new rules. The order also includes provisions to protect consumer privacy and to ensure that Internet service is available for people with disabilities and in remote areas.

Before the vote, each of the five commissioners spoke and the Republicans delivered a scathing critique of the order as overly broad, vague and unnecessary. Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner, said the rules were government meddling in a vibrant, competitive market and were likely to deter investment, undermine innovation and ultimately harm consumers.

“The Internet is not broken,” Mr. Pai said. “There is no problem to solve.”

The impact of the new rules will largely hinge partly on details that are not yet known. The rules will not be published for at least a couple of days, and will not take effect for probably at least a couple of months. Lawsuits to challenge the commission’s order are widely expected.

The F.C.C. is taking this big regulatory step by reclassifying high-speed Internet service as a telecommunications service, instead of an information service, under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. The Title II classification comes from the phone company era, treating service as a public utility.

But the new rules are an à la carte version of Title II, adopting some provisions and shunning others. The F.C.C. will not get involved in pricing decisions or the engineering decisions companies make in managing their networks. Mr. Wheeler, who gave a forceful defense of the rules just ahead of the vote, said the tailored approach was anything but old-style utility regulation. “These are a 21st-century set of rules for a 21st-century industry,” he said.

Opponents of the new rules, led by cable television and telecommunications companies, say adopting the Title II approach opens the door to bureaucratic interference with business decisions that, if let stand, would reduce incentives to invest and thus raise prices and hurt consumers.

“Today, the F.C.C. took one of the most regulatory steps in its history,” Michael Powell, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and a chairman of the F.C.C. in the Bush administration, said in a statement. “The commission has breathed new life into the decayed telephone regulatory model and applied it to the most dynamic, freewheeling and innovative platform in history.”

Supporters of the Title II model include many major Internet companies, start-ups and public interest groups. In a statement, Michael Beckerman, president of the Internet Association, which includes Google, Facebook and smaller online companies, called the F.C.C. vote “a welcome step in our effort to create strong, enforceable net neutrality rules.”
Click to expand...
 
A

Angelus Errare

Banned
skYOFwB.gif
 
Duane Cunningham

Duane Cunningham

Member
This is a GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER of the internet! Just like in China and North Korea!

Source: shit heads I'm friends with on Facebook for some reason.
 
D

djplaeskool

Member
My Comcast bill and the inability for me to get service faster than 10Mbps from any provider except Comcast says this shit is broken.
I look forward to see how it changes.
It's hard to imagine it getting worse.
 
J

jimwhat

Member
I'm always amazed of how many people can actively use the internet, yet not understand how it works.

I'm glad this finally passed and hopefully people will actually begin to read articles as opposed to just listening to what some people are saying (w/o fact checking). Heck, even the Fox News article is more accurate than some of the people complaining about this.
 
L

Led_Zeppelin

Member
Flo_Evans said:
$62 a month for a 18 down/1.5 up line seems pretty broken to me.
Click to expand...

This isn't about prizing, but rather about Net Neutrality, which is basically the idea that ISP CAN'T and SHOULD NEVER discriminate the packages they are delivering to you or charge you (or the people providing your packages, like Netflix) for the type of packages you are receiving.

This is a giant step into protecting the internet and the current use and access it has and don't turn it into cable TV.
 
terrisus

terrisus

Member
djplaeskool said:
My Comcast bill and the inability for me to get service faster than 10Mbps from any provider except Comcast says this shit is broken.
I look forward to see how it changes.
It's hard to imagine it getting worse.
Click to expand...

For a faster web
We dream every day and night
But telcos say "No!"
 
J

jamesinclair

Banned
Why does the article give so much prominence to the republican contrarian point of view and bury the Google and Facebook support at the end?
 
C

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
I find it laughable that the republican, Pai (who worked for Verizon I believe and is deep in the pockets) would say that the current system is open and competitive, when I currently pay 92 dollars a month for internet.
 
A

Astral/H3X

Member
Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner, said the rules were government meddling in a vibrant, competitive market and were likely to deter investment, undermine innovation and ultimately harm consumers.
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PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
captive said:
I find it laughable that the republican, Pai (who worked for Verizon I believe and is deep in the pockets) would say that the current system is open and competitive, when I currently pay 92 dollars a month for internet.
Click to expand...

He's a shill.
 
B

bachikarn

Member
Will this help pricing go down, and if so why? Is there a chance this will cause more taxes which gets passed on the consumer.
 
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