FCC

Pai’s Destroying Internet Adoption, Not Just Net Neutrality

November 3, 2020 Matt Wood, Free Press. Educate! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Telecom

Washington, DC (October 29, 2020) - During Tuesday’s FCC open meeting, I was tweeting about the failures and falsehoods in the agency’s latest open-internet vote — a decision that involves so much more than just Net Neutrality rules, and that’s all about the Trump FCC’s unlawful abdication of its responsibility for broadband policy. The agency just released the final order, so this explainer recaps that Twitter thread and the Free Press research it came from. During tumultuous times it can be hard to focus on internet and media policy issues like these.

Trump FCC Turned The Internet Into A ‘Wild West’ For The Telecoms

November 2, 2020 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Telecom

Five years ago, the movement for internet freedom won an important victory when the Federal Communications Commission reclassified the internet as a common carrier, making it like a utility that everyone should have equal access to without discrimination. That was quickly reversed in 2017 under the new chair of the FCC, Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, who deregulated the internet giving the government no authority to oversee the internet service providers like Comcast and AT&T. I speak with Josh Stager of the Open Technology Institute about the ongoing fight to protect the internet and what we need to do next.

OTI Condemns ‘Unhinged’ FCC, Urges Restoration Of Net Neutrality

October 29, 2020 Open Technology Institute. Educate! Ajit Pai, FCC, Internet Access, Net Neutrality

Washington, DC - On October 27, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to reaffirm its 2017 repeal of net neutrality. The vote is a response to Mozilla v. FCC, a 2019 court ruling that found the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality was “unhinged from the realities of modern broadband service” and ignored the government’s duty to protect public safety, digital equity, and broadband competition. In February 2020, the FCC abruptly announced a short public comment period to address the ruling and the court-ordered remand, or do-over, of the net neutrality proceeding.

The Last Smash And Grab At The Federal Communications Commission

October 28, 2020 Ernesto Falcon, EFF. Educate! FCC, Internet Access, Monopolization

When the Department of Justice successfully broke up the AT&T monopoly into regional companies, it needed Congress to pass a law to open up the regional companies (known as Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers or ILECs) to competition. To do that, the Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that established bedrock competition law and reaffirmed non-discrimination policies that net neutrality is based on. The law Congress created a new industry that would interoperate with the ILECs.

Chairman Pai Doubles Down On Open-Internet Repeal

October 22, 2020 Free Press. Educate! Ajit Pai, COVID-19, FCC, Net Neutralty

Washington - On Tuesday, Free Press filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission that responded to the agency’s attempt to fix problems in its order that repealed Net Neutrality rules and tossed away its broadband-oversight authority. The proposal, scheduled for a vote at the FCC next week, responds to the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that remanded portions of the unpopular repeal to the agency for further consideration. Earlier this month, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated his proposal to address three issues the court of appeals raised in 2019.

FCC’s Repeal Of Net Neutrality Is Still Wrong

October 6, 2020 Timothy Karr, Free Press. Educate! FCC, Internet Access, Net Neutrality, Public Good

Washington - In a blog post on Monday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wrote that he stands by the agency's unpopular repeal of Net Neutrality rules. Pai also circulated a proposal to address three issues raised in 2019 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit when it remanded critical parts of that repeal and sent it back to the agency. At that time, the court commanded the FCC to examine the impacts of removing Title II as a source of authority for broadband’s inclusion in the Lifeline subsidy program.

FCC Ordered To Disclose Data About Net Neutrality Commenters

May 3, 2020 Wendy Davis, MediaPost.com. Educate! Ajit Pai, Courts, FCC, Net Neutrality

Siding with The New York Times, a federal judge has ordered that the Federal Communications Commission must disclose information about users who submitted comments during the 2017 net neutrality proceeding, despite the agency’s objections that doing so could compromise people’s privacy. U.S. District Court Judge Lorna Schofield in the Southern District of New York ruled Thursday that disclosure of the data — including commenters’ IP addresses, time stamps and user-agent headers — is in the public interest, particularly given concerns that many comments were fraudulent.

Corona Virus And The Digital Divide

March 15, 2020 Janine Jackson, FAIR. Educate! Coronavirus, COVID-19, Education, FCC, Internet, Media Justice

It is not lost on some that, all of a sudden, paid sick leave is obviously socially important; understaffed hospitals are an outrage; and, really, shouldn’t the government be paying for this…? I mean, it’s community health we’re talking about! And all it took was a little pandemic—an outbreak that, as it just happens, doesn’t confine itself to low-income or non-white people. The New York Times‘ Farhad Manjoo (3/11/20) tried wistfully to imagine US companies and politicians taking seriously the coronavirus lesson of the need for a real social safety net and worker protections. Journalists could also themselves keep focus on enduring fissures that a public health crisis throws into relief. For example, as more schools move classes online, we could talk about the minimally 12 million, disproportionately African-American and Latinx students who don’t have internet access at home.

With Net Neutrality Axed, Local Governments Are Racing To Save The Open Internet

November 26, 2019 By Victor Pickard and David Elliot Berman, Inthesetimes.com Create! Courts, FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality

Internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon are free to slow down, block or prioritize internet traffic as they wish, without interference by the federal government. That’s the effect of an October ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, upholding a 2017 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that reversed rules requiring what is called “net neutrality” – treating all internet traffic equally, regardless of where it’s from or what kind of data it is. Giving corporate telecom giants this power is wildly unpopular among the American people, who know that these companies have overcharged customers and interfered with users’ internet access in the past.

We Have No Reason To Believe 5G Is Safe

November 2, 2019 By Joel M. Moskowitz, Blogs.scientificamerican.com Educate! FCC, Telecommunications

The telecommunications industry and their experts have accused many scientists who have researched the effects of cell phone radiation of "fear mongering" over the advent of wireless technology's 5G. Since much of our research is publicly-funded, we believe it is our ethical responsibility to inform the public about what the peer-reviewed scientific literature tells us about the health risks from wireless radiation. The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently announced through a press release that the commission will soon reaffirm the radio frequency radiation (RFR) exposure limits that the FCC adopted in the late 1990s.

DC Court Of Appeals Requires Environmental Review For Implementation Of 5G

October 30, 2019 Staff, Ehtrust.org Resist! Courts, FCC, Regulation, Telecommunications

A federal appeals court has vacated and remanded the “arbitrary and capricious” Federal Communications Commission’s decision to allow AT&T Inc., Verizon, and other wireless carriers, cell phone facilities owners and operators to bypass historic preservation and environmental reviews for 5G networks. On August 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously denied the FCC order that would have exempted 800,000 or more small cell construction (cell antenna facilities) from historic-preservation review under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)...

Court Decision On Net Neutrality Opens Doors To Next Steps

October 8, 2019 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. Podcast FCC, Internet, Media, Net Neutrality

In 2015, under great pressure from a broad media justice movement, the FCC passed Net Neutrality policies that guaranteed the universal right to go where users want to go on the Internet. In 2017, the Trump FCC under Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai moved quickly to repeal Net Neutrality. The movement responded with several tactics to win Net Neutrality back. One of those was a challenge in court, Mozilla v FCC. Last week, the court finally announced its decision. We speak with Craig Aaron of Free Press about that decision. While the court did not restore Net Neutrality, it did open the doors for the movement to use other tactics to achieve a free Internet. Aaron describes what those are and the bigger picture of an Internet for everyone.

What To Expect When You’re Expecting A Net Neutrality Decision

August 2, 2019 Andrew Jay Schwartzman, Benton.org Strategize! Courts, FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality

Every Tuesday and Friday morning at 10 am (Eastern), scores of journalists, activists, and lawyers stare at the website of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s “Opinions” page, rapidly refreshing their browsers. They are waiting for the court’s opinion in the challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 decision repealing its own Obama-era network neutrality rules. Within a few minutes, the court posts new decisions or notes that there will be no decisions that day. The court’s net neutrality decision may come down tomorrow, next week, next month, or several months from now...

Governor Mills Signs Law To Support Net Neutrality And Protect Internet Users

July 11, 2019 Staff, Maine.gov Create! FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality, Reform

Governor Janet Mills announced today that she has signed into law LD 1364, An Act Regarding Net Neutrality and Internet Policy, introduced by Rep. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth. The legislation restricts internet service providers from blocking, slowing down, or speeding up the delivery of online content at their discretion and follows the Federal Communication Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama Administration. "The internet is a powerful economic and educational tool that can open doors of opportunity for Maine people and small businesses," said Governor Mills.

103 Groups Urge Senate Majority Leader McConnell To Bring The Save The Internet Act To A Floor Vote

June 12, 2019 Staff, Freepress.net Create! FCC, Internet, Reform

Today marks one year since the FCC made the unpopular decision to officially kill net neutrality and broadband protections for the American people. On the one-year anniversary of the end of the Open Internet Order, we encourage the Senate to join your House colleagues in implementing the will of your constituents — 4 in 5 of whom support net neutrality, including 77% of Republicans, according to recent polling. Since the repeal of the Open Internet Order by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)...

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