2 replies to this topic

[CA3LE6UY]

Though consumers still haven't seen them, every indication is that the FCC will pass Genachowski's planned network neutrality rules when the agency votes on them tomorrow. If the rules lacked votes it would have been pulled by now, and a statement by Commissioner Michael Copps  unsurprisingly indicates the Democrat has gotten minor changes implemented that make him comfortable enough to vote yes. With Genachowski and Clyburn to also vote yes, it means we'll see the usual 3-2 partisan split. In a statement, Copps insists that while the rules aren't the ones he'd prefer, and may not even be enforceable or enforced, he's going to vote yes on them anyway:

I have been fighting for nearly a decade to make sure the Internet doesn't travel down the same road of special interest consolidation and gate-keeper control that other media and telecommunications industries   radio, television, film and cable    have traveled. What an historic tragedy it would be to let that fate befall the dynamism of the Internet. The item we will vote on tomorrow is not the one I would have crafted. But I believe we have been able to make the current iteration better than what was originally circulated. If vigilantly and vigorously implemented by the Commission   and if upheld by the courts   it could represent an important milestone in the ongoing struggle to safeguard the awesome opportunity-creating power of the open Internet.

Those are some very large caveats, since a "vigilant," pro-consumer FCC is no sure thing, nor is the FCC's legal authority on this issue since Genachowski decided against partially reclassifying broadband ISPs as common carriers under the Communications Act. A little pro-consumer saber rattling followed by a Copps approval is what most people predicted, as is a 3-2 partisan vote. The question now is just how paper thin the final rules will be, and whether or not they'll extend to wireless networks -- something AT&T and Verizon fought violently against.  

AT&T had the lion's share of input into these final rules, so if you're taking bets on what tomorrow's rules will look like, expect potentially unenforceable loophole-riddled ones. You may see some rules focused on requiring transparency in network management,  but it seems unlikely the rules will require ISPs to do anything they weren't already doing voluntarily. In other words, expect empty provisions with a coat of consumer protection paint.

[mudmanc4]

This is nothing more then a gateway to controlling everything about information. It's sad that only aprox 2 million people got involved and submitted a request that the FCC stop overstepping it's boundary's on this situation.

Considering the government has already ruled the FCC has no jurisdiction here, now there going to play more games on something they voted against once already, and not many seem to take the time to care , or just shrug it off as they do so many other things not in there social agenda for the day.

[WebUser]

mudmanc4, on 20 December 2010 - 07:28 PM, said:

This is nothing more then a gateway to controlling everything about information.

I see it as just the opposite.  I see it as preventing the ISPs from controlling what websites you can hit based on financial agreements they have with certain companies.