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Net Neutrality

Congress Just Got One Step Closer To Blocking Net Neutrality

June 27, 2015 Eric Geller, www.dailydot.com , , ,
By Eric Geller in Daily Dot - The House committee that writes the federal budget approved a provision on Wednesday that would freeze the FCC's net neutrality rules. The provision of the spending bill written by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government suspends the rules until a federal court rules on the legal challenge currently facing them. It also requires the FCC to publish the details of any rule it proposes at least 21 days before voting on it—a step that agency advocates oppose because it contravenes the typical rulemaking process—and significantly cuts the commission's funding. The full House Appropriations Committee voted 30-20 to approve the bill, which becomes part of the overall spending bill that will eventually go to the House floor. The anti-net-neutrality provision is not present in the Senate appropriations bill.

The Internet Health Test Reveals Network Slowdowns

June 26, 2015 Timothy Karr, www.freepress.net ,
By Timothy Karr in Free Press - For too long Internet users had to take it on faith that our Internet access providers were making good on their promises to give us what we pay for. But even those who pay a premium for top speeds have found that certain sites and services sputter out at the pace of dial-up. And calling your ISP’s customer-service department to find out what’s going on can be a torturous exercise — requiring you to endure an endless loop of hold music as you pray for a sentient being to pick up the line. Now you can do something about it. Last month the Free Press Action Fund and our BattlefortheNet.com partners launched the Internet Health Test to collect data on the speeds offered by the likes of AT&T, Comcast and Verizon.

Newsletter – No Justice, No Peace

June 20, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report writes that “No justice, no peace” is “a vow by the movement to transform the crisis that is inflicted on Black people into a generalized crisis for the larger society, and for those who currently rule.” In reality, given the violence being inflicted upon people, particularly people of color, whether directly or indirectly through rising poverty, unemployment, homelessness, lack of access to health care and more, and the government’s failures to address these crises and listen to the people, disruption is a necessary element of political change. In 1968 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke outside a prison in California where people were being held for protesting the Vietnam War. In the speech he drew the connections between the Civil Rights movement and the peace movement against the Vietnam War. Today we see the links between racism, inequality, imperialism, militarism and ecocide and his comment on that day continues to ring true: "There can be no justice without peace. And there can be no peace without justice."

Sneak Attack On Net Neutrality Picks Up Steam In The House

June 20, 2015 Amy Kroin, www.freepress.net , ,
By Amy Kroin in Free Press - “Maybe every so often we can be on the side of the American people,” Rep. Jose Serrano said, “and not corporations.” Those are fighting words — but unfortunately the House majority doesn’t seem to be heeding them. Not when it comes to Net Neutrality. This afternoon the House appropriations committee voted against two amendments — one from Serrano, one from Rep. Nita Lowey — to remove anti-Net Neutrality language from a must-pass government-funding package. The anti-Net Neutrality provisions — buried deep within this 158-page bill — would strip the FCC of the money it needs to enforce its open Internet protections. The provisions would also prevent the rules from remaining in effect until after the court cases challenging them have been decided — a process that could take years.

Court Refuses To Block The FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules

June 12, 2015 Colin Lecher, www.theverge.com , , ,
By Colin Lecher in The Verge - In April, soon after the FCC passed strong net neutrality rules, the broadband industry sued to stop them. But, at least for now, the rules are safe: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied a request for a stay that would have temporarily halted the rules. Industry groups had hoped — quixotically — that a judge would prevent the rules from being implemented until the lawsuits were finished, but the rules will now officially come into effect tomorrow. Still, even as the lawsuits unfold, Republicans in Congress have been pushing legislation to stop the FCC. Most recently, the GOP has attempted to add a provision to a funding bill that would stop the commission from enforcing the rules.

Court Denies Latest Cable Lobby Effort To Overturn Net Neutrality

June 12, 2015 Free Press, www.freepress.net , ,
By Free Press - On Thursday, the D.C. Circuit denied a motion for stay of the Federal Communications Commission’s historic decision to reclassify broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service. The cable, telephone and wireless lobbies sought to halt implementation of the decision while the court considered these industries’ challenge to the FCC's Net Neutrality rules. Free Press intervened in that case to defend the FCC, and joined other advocacy groups as well as Internet companies and investors to oppose the requested delay. Today’s ruling by the D.C. Circuit is another defeat for industry efforts to undermine the Net Neutrality rules, which are set to go into effect on June 12.

Civil Rights Advocates Oppose House Bill To Block Net Neutrality

June 12, 2015 Pitch Engine, www.pitchengine.com , , ,
By Pitch Engine - Today, just one day before recently passed Federal Communications Commission Net Neutrality rules were set to go into effect, the House Appropriations subcommittee passed legislation that would defund the FCC budget by $25 million while eliminating vital provisions and consumer protections. The full committee is expected to vote on the proposal next week. More than 175 community based organizations of the Media Action Grassroots Network strongly oppose the legislative proposal, and are concerned that the last-minute legislative push by the House subcommittee guts the rules that prevent online discrimination and undermines the civil rights of communities of color in a digital age.

Net Neutrality Rules Already Forcing Companies To Play Fair

May 22, 2015 Karl Bode, www.techdirt.com , , , ,
The FCC's net neutrality rules don't even go into effect until June 12, but they're already benefiting consumers. You'll recall that the last year or so has been filled with ugly squabbling over interconnection issues, with Level 3 accusing ISPs like Verizon of letting peering points congest to kill settlement-free peering and drive Netflix toward paying for direct interconnection. But with Level 3 and Cogent hinting they'd be using the FCC's new complaint process to file grievances about anti-competitive behavior, magically Verizon has now quickly struck deals with Level 3 and Cogent that everybody on board appears to be happy with. And it's not just Verizon; Level 3 also quickly managed to strike a new interconnection deal with AT&T, and Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer recently proclaimed Comcast has also become suddenly more amicable of late, turning on ports for capacity quickly and when needed.

A New Fake Corporate Grassroots Campaign Uncovered

April 2, 2015 Tony Romm, www.politico.com , ,
A number of messages to lawmakers purporting to be from average constituents who oppose the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules don’t appear to have come from people within their districts, according to the company that manages the technology for some House members. The notes have identical wording to those organized by a group called American Commitment, which is led by Phil Kerpen, a former top aide at the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity. On Monday, American Commitment boasted that it helped direct more than 1.6 million messages earlier this month from more than half a million voters to members of the House and Senate.

Net Neutrality: Trade Group Led By AT&T & Verizon Sues FCC

March 25, 2015 Jon Brodkin, www.arstechnica.com , , ,
The Federal Communications Commission's new net neutrality rules haven't taken effect yet, but they're already facing lawsuits from Internet service providers. One such lawsuit was filed today by USTelecom, which is led by AT&T, Verizon, and others. Another lawsuit was filed by a small Internet service provider in Texas called Alamo Broadband. (The Washington Post flagged the lawsuits.) Internet providers are now common carriers, and they're ready to sue. The net neutrality order, which reclassifies broadband providers as common carriers and imposes rules against blocking and discriminating against online content, "is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion," USTelecom alleged in its petition to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

FCC’s Net Neutrality Order Protects Internet Freedom

March 21, 2015 S. Derek Turner, www.medium.com , ,
The rules themselves are a little less than eight pages long. There are no “surprises” in these rules or in the order because the FCC did what it said it would do, both in the Feb. 4 fact sheet it released leading up to the Feb. 26 vote, and then in the detailed answers and explanations Chairman Wheeler and FCC staff offered at the open meeting on the 26th. And the most important thing the FCC did is the easiest to explain. Above all else, the FCC restored the rule of law. It returned to the will of Congress as written into the Act, and as updated on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis in 1996.

New Civil Rights Advocates Defeated Old-Line Groups On Net Neutrality

March 19, 2015 AOSCRUGGS, www.alldigitocracy.org , , ,
The fight over federal regulation of the Internet should have been an easy victory for the big guys, especially when it came to marshaling the communities of color. Major telecom companies like Verizon and Comcast had the groups like the NAACP, the Multicultural Media and Telecom Council or MMTC and Urban League behind them. But the issue turned into a battle between David and Goliath when a coalition of smaller, online civil rights organizations took net neutrality to the virtual streets. By using social media aggressively and persuasively, the online civil rights groups helped convince the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify the Internet as a public utility that would be regulated under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act.

Congress: Popular Resistance Conspired For Net Neutrality

March 17, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
Today at the House Oversight and Government Reform Hearing, they are claiming that Popular Resistance was working with the White House in pressuring Tom Wheeler to enact rules in the public interest to protect the Internet. While we appreciate the attention, the reality is that Popular Resistance was part of a broad coalition of organizations and individuals who pushed for Title II and net neutrality rules. We played our role in protesting at key points throughout the process, helping to develop strategy with the net neutrality coalition, urging people to submit comments as well as writing and reporting about the issue. Near the end of the process when we still thought the FCC was not going to reschedule, and President Obama had remained silent, we also protested at the White House and urged people to call the president and tell him to support Title II. This is how the system is supposed to work. The FCC proposes a rule, seeks comments and listens. Corporate interests are so used to the public being ignored that they, and their puppets in Congress, are startled that a federal agency actually acted in the public interest.

Groups Thank FCC For Supporting Net Neutrality

March 17, 2015 Net Neutrality Coalition, www.popularresistance.org ,
“The FCC followed the letter of the law by voting for reclassification, and it heeded the calls of millions of Americans. You proved that sound policy that benefits the public interest can carry the day in Washington. Your vote will help keep the Internet open for years to come, free from slow lanes and gatekeeping, which will enable future generations to enjoy the greatest platform for free expression, democracy, and innovation the world has ever known. If Congress acts, it should consider the FCC’s rule the floor, and not the ceiling, when it comes to the protections afforded Americans.” The groups also noted the bipartisan support for Net Neutrality and the FCC’s vote: “Those that support Net Neutrality and Title II represent a wide range of interests and political affiliations. What we have in common is an unwavering belief in the power of the Internet and the need to keep it open for the benefit of the public. This is not a partisan idea.”

FCC Net Neutrality Rules Published, Restores Common Carriage

March 12, 2015 Staff, www.freepress.net , , ,
The FCC has restored the principle of common carriage for Internet access, the most vital two-way communications platform of our time. These rules provide the nondiscriminatory access and free speech protections that millions of Internet users have called for — and that every Internet user needs. Anyone who believes that Internet users — and not Comcast, Verizon and AT&T — should control online communications should applaud the FCC's action. Now that Congress and everyone else can read the rules, we can continue to have a debate about protecting free speech on the Internet. But we can dismiss the ridiculous claims from the phone and cable companies and their fear-mongering mouthpieces. This is not a government takeover of the Internet or an onerous utility-style regulation. Any claims that these rules create new taxes or harm investment have been completely debunked. These rules are an all-too-rare example of Washington actually working for the people
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