Blogs

Please don’t break the Internet before rural America gets it.

The Wall Street Journal reported the Federal Communications Commission will consider “new rules on Internet traffic that would allow broadband providers to charge companies a premium for access to their fastest lanes.”

In the library community, one of today’s highest profile, exciting national policy topics is modernization of the E-rate program. I know... it is hard to believe that the words “exciting” and "E-rate" can be in the same sentence. Well, it is true, and, as we shall see, it is with good reason.

There is no speech more important than that of one citizen asking another for her vote. Congress has enacted a series of provisions addressing how broadcasters and cable operators treat candidates. With the 2014 primary season now under way, this is a good time to review those requirements.

“Equal time”

On April 11, the Benton Foundation responded to the Federal Communications Commission’s request for public comment on how to preserve an Open Internet in the wake of this year’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit which struck down some of the FCC’s Open Internet (or “network neutrality”) rules.

On March 31, 2014, Public Knowledge, along with the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute and the Benton Foundation, told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that AT&T’s plans to test its new services on consumers must include more thorough data collection plans and more robust consumer protections.