Chairman Tom Wheeler, of the Federal Communications Commission, has hinted that the agency might be interested in increasing Internet broadband competition by stopping local and state laws, often imposed with pressure by big incumbent Internet service providers, that outlaw municipal broadband.
To help protect net neutrality, comedian John Oliver on his HBO show Last Week Tonight called on internet lovers to do what they do best: trolling. The result? They probably crashed the FCC's servers.
The same group that brought us the strong message from Senator Al Franken calling net neutrality the "free speech issue of our time," the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and NoSlowLane.com, is keeping up the pressure against "fast lanes." This time, they're targeting a younger audience.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak published an open letter on Tuesday calling the current action on Net Neutrality one of the "most important times ever" for the FCC. At the same time, reports that Apple has made interconnection deals with ISPs might indicate that the company he helped found doesn't have a problem with the proposed "fast lanes" of the internet.
At the Federal Communications Commission's meeting on Thursday to take the first step towards controversial new Open Internet rules, it seemed no one on either side of the political spectrum -- inside or outside of the building -- was entirely satisfied by the proposal. Nevertheless, the FCC voted to advance the process of adopting new rules that may drastically reshape the way the Internet works.
Amid a large and growing backlash from advocacy groups and top Internet companies to the Federal Communication Commission's draft Open Internet proposal, the FCC is considering yet a new draft to mollify critics. The changes reportedly emphasize the FCC's willingness to reclassify broadband providers if anti-net neutrality practices become widespread.
Earlier this week, a large coalition of internet companies released an open letter to the Federal Communications Commission warning that its purported new Open Internet rules, ostensibly meant to protect net neutrality, actually "represents a grave threat to the Internet." Now a large coalition of interest groups, including some prominent Latino organizations, has done the same.
Do you remember the day the internet went on strike against a bad piece of legislation? It may happen again. The internet dream team behind 2011's SOPA protests has sent what may be the opening salvo in another pressure campaign, this time to stop the Federal Communications Commission's reportedly proposed "Open Internet" rules.
In the wake of leaks about new, weaker, Open Internet rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission, and soon after Netflix had to pay two internet service providers for better access to their customers, Netflix has taken its concerns directly to the FCC. Meanwhile, Google, Yahoo, and other internet heavies may be planning a SOPA-like grassroots protest for net neutrality.
The Federal Communications Commission will propose new Open Internet rules supposedly meant to protect consumers and internet businesses later this month. They will do nothing of the kind, giving big broadband companies exactly the kind of anti-net neutrality power they've wanted for years, at a time when the concept of net neutrality desperately needs enforcement.
Netflix has made it very clear that it doesn't think it should have to pay Internet service providers to get quality streaming service to an ISP's subscribers, going so far as to make a case for a new "strong net neutrality" that protects them (and presumably others) from such fees. Nevertheless, the company has made a deal with Verizon for better access.
The Federal Communications Commission will release a proposal soon on a new set of Open Internet rules to replace the net neutrality-friendly rules recently struck down by a federal court. But early leaks suggest the new replacement system is not so net neutrality-friendly, sparking a war of words between FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the tech community.
If you're a customer of Comcast cable broadband, you might have noticed an uptick in the streaming quality of your Netflix videos - or at least an end to constant buffering and blocky video. Netflix released data showing that its bandwidth deal with Comcast has boosted average connection speeds in recent months, begging the question: Was it worth paying the toll?
Cable giant Comcast started making its argument for buying up the second largest cable operator in the U.S., Time Warner Cable, this week. In part four of our series "Comcast's Competitors?" we'll look at net neutrality - a recently troubling issue that Comcast says will be bolstered by its takeover of TWC.
On Thursday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings came out in favor of stronger net neutrality rules. Hastings supports a version of net neutrality that would help Netflix stream to customers without constant buffering - and without Netflix having to pay extra to internet service providers. But the root problem for Netflix and customers isn't the "toll" that Netflix recently had to pay for direct access - it's America's bandwidth scarcity.
