[Commentary] The Trump Federal Communications Commission has determined, amazingly but not surprisingly, to rush through its transfer of authority over internet service providers to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—even before knowing if that agency possesses the authority to handle such matters.
[Commentary] On Thursday, December 14, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on a proposal to abolish net neutrality. People who care about rural America’s access to services and information should be concerned. Without net neutrality rules, consumers and the federal government have no way to prevent internet service providers from doing bad things to consumers until after the fact. And because there are no rules, how do you get providers to stop doing bad things to consumers and businesses?
Join Public Knowledge and other advocacy groups for a deep dive into the Federal Communication Commission’s wireline infrastructure proceeding, a significant downgrade for rural America.
Federal Communications Commission member Mignon Clyburn took to the streets, literally, speaking to protestors outside the Federal Communications Bar Association's chairman's dinner, where FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was the featured jokester. She was also highlighting a letter to the FCC from various elected officials (mostly mayors), including mayors of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. They called on the FCC to preserve its 2015 rules.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai says the agency's net-neutrality rules are discouraging investment, leaving consumers with fewer, and less robust, choices for internet service, and potentially widening the digital divide. Broadband providers' own financial reports tell a different story. The nation's largest internet provider actually increased its spending during 2015 and 2016, as did several other companies. Others cut spending, but said the drops stemmed from completion of longer-term plans.
Entrepreneurs are rightly concerned that large companies will spend heavily to dominate fast-lane access, making it harder for some startups, such as bandwidth-hungry mobile video companies, to challenge them. “Milliseconds of difference can leave you at a disadvantage when potential customers are evaluating your product,” explains Tom Lee, the head of policy at Mapbox, a location data platform for mobile and Web applications. Even the very biggest startups could suffer.
More than 30 press freedom, civil liberties and open government groups submitted a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai urging him to cancel the scheduled Dec. 14 vote to undermine the open-internet protections put in place in 2015. “You must not abandon Net Neutrality,” the letter to Chairman Pai reads. “The open internet is today our main conduit for expression and information. It is our library, our printing press, our delivery truck and our town square.
Four guiding principles for Congress to consider before crafting any online privacy legislation in order to create the strongest protections for consumers:
Federal Communications Commission General Counsel Thomas Johnson said the agency must “respectfully decline” requests from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as part of the AG’s investigation into the fraudulent use of names on comments in the net neutrality rollback proceeding. Johnson said revealing the logs of IP addresses for some comments raises “significant personal privacy concerns” and could also endanger the security of the commission’s comment system.
What's President Trump hearing when he watches Fox News? He's hearing that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is "illegitimate and corrupt." That it's led by a "band of merry Trump-haters" who are trying to reverse the results of the election. And that it must be stopped. He's also hearing that the FBI is becoming "America's secret police," akin to the KGB in Russia, full of "sickness" and "corruption." These are all actual quotes from some of the president's favorite pro-Trump talk shows. The overarching message from "Fox & Friends" and "Hannity" is unmistakable: Mr.
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