December 2017

Reps McNerney and Dingell Blast Chairman Pai for Failure to Follow Through on Commitments

Reps Jerry McNerney (D-CA) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai expressing their strong disappointment that the Chairman has failed to provide repeatedly requested documentation related to the alleged May 7 distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System. 

Comcast Vows to Behave Without Net-Neutrality Rules. Not All Are Convinced.

A trade group of broadband providers including AT&T and Comcast pledged recently to not block or slow web traffic and otherwise avoid “unfair discrimination against lawful traffic online,” according to a statement. The group, Broadband for America, also represents companies including the largest wireless carrier Verizon. Comcast changed the language about its web practices that is posted on a corporate page in late April, as Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai was announcing his intention to gut the Obama-era rules.

The FCC is Ignoring 50,000 Consumer Complaints as it Moves Forward to Repeal Net Neutrality

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission’s record is missing key evidence: over 50,000 Net Neutrality consumer complaints submitted to the FCC between 2015 and 2017.

Frontier sticks broadband consumers with $2 Internet Infrastructure Surcharge

Frontier users have found an unwelcome present in their latest bill as the company has added a $2-a-month Internet Infrastructure Surcharge:

"Beginning with this bill, customers not on an Internet Service term agreement, price protection plan or subject to other exclusions will be assessed a $1.99 per month Internet Infrastructure surcharge. The Internet Infrastructure surcharge is not a tax or governmental charge."

Frontier says the surcharge has been implemented to defray some local network maintenance costs.

Slowing down the Presses: The Relationship Between Net Neutrality and Local News

An open internet provides a bedrock on which local news providers can build stable, accessible, and independent structures. Net Neutrality will not solve the problems facing local news. Doing so will require hard work and ingenuity from journalists, community members, entrepreneurs, and local governments. But net neutrality gives those actors the space to try and solve these problems. In a world without net neutrality, that space will shrink. 

Could municipal broadband provide another way online if net neutrality rules go away?

A Q&A with Christopher Mitchell, director of Community Broadband Networks for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.