The group has informed AT&T that they intend to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against the wireless carrier for violating net neutrality rules. After all the waiting by users for Apple to make Facetime usable over cellular networks instead of WiFi, only to see AT&T cut out the option unless users paid an additional fee has many up in arms. Here’s what Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said in a press release:

“AT&T’s decision to block FaceTime unless a customer pays for voice and text minutes she doesn’t need is a clear violation of the FCC’s Open Internet rules.” “It’s particularly outrageous that AT&T is requiring this for iPad users, given that this device isn’t even capable of making voice calls.”

In comparison, rivals from Verizon and other carriers will allow this feature outright, while AT&T looks to bank on the situation. Although according to AT&T they are in compliance of the network neutrality rules because Facetime comes pre-installed. They allow any and all 3rd party apps to be downloaded and installed with no additional charges. Basically those rules only apply to downloaded apps.

We’ll take this moment to ask you guys again. Do you really want Facetime over 3G, or do we just resent paying for things? With the iPhone 5 already being AT&T’s most successful iPhone launch ever surely Facetime over cellular poses a huge task for network stability and bandwidth demand, but AT&T should be up to the challenge. We’ll be hearing more on this soon from both AT&T and the group filing the complaint, we’re sure of it.

[via CNET]

Though we don’t technically know any of the group’s members yet, an anonymous source tells The Washington Post that the four Internet giants listed above are among the Association’s most prominent members. In a statement today, Beckerman said that the Internet’s “decentralized and open model” leads to innovation and job creation, and that we must defend against attempts to “handcuff” the currently-unregulated web. The Internet Association even has its own website up and running today, though there isn’t that much to see there at the moment.

The group will be getting things underway in September, and even though Beckerman has yet to lay out a clear policy plan, we think we have some idea of what it will attempt do in Washington. After all, those four companies have all come out in favor of net neutrality at one point or another, and lately we’ve been seeing Washington trying to pass questionable legislation that would directly affect all of them. Here’s hoping that the Internet Association sticks to its guns when it arrives in Washington later this year, because make no mistake about it – with Facebook, eBay, Google, and Amazon all apparently backing the group, it will have enough sway to essentially get whatever it wants.

Users need to be connected online to the Xbox 360 through their Comcast broadband connection in order to be able to access the streaming video platform. But no matter how much video content they consume, it won’t be applied toward their monthly data allotment on their Comcast broadband subscription. In other words, it treats that online content differently than any other form of online content.

Under the net neutrality policies of the Federal Communications Commission, that kind of practice would be prohibited…if Comcast didn’t exploit a loophole. The cable provider is powering this service through its own private IP network, which mean it isn’t subject to FCC neutrality policies.Nevertheless, Franken doesn’t like it and wants an investigation. “Even if this does not amount to a technical violation, it certainly raises serious questions about how Comcast will favor its own content and services to the detriment of its competitors,” he wrote in a letter to the FCC.

[via MediaPost]

There are some exceptions to the law: ISPs can manage traffic if the network is congested, but otherwise providers are expected to treat all traffic as equal. The Netherlands joins Chile as the second country in the world that has firm net neutrality laws, while other countries are still debating the topic.

In the UK, Ofcom has threatened to impose net neutrality on ISPs if they don’t offer more transparency regarding their throttling practises, and in the US several companies have come under fire. Most recently Comcast was scrutinized by net neutrality advocates, as well as Netflix, regarding its Xfinity service. Comcast internet users have a 250GB data cap per month, but the Xfinity video streaming service for Xbox did not count towards that total.

The FCC does have net neutrality rules in place, but they’re limited in scope. ISPs can’t charge for additional access to competitors services, but they’re not restricted from offering faster access to specific services.

[via The Next Web]

Posting to Facebook, Hastings described how he watched different streaming services on his television using Comcast as the ISP. When he was watching Netflix, Hulu, and HBO GO, all of those services ate into his allowed data cap, while Comcast’s own Xfinity service didn’t. Hastings says that Comcast should “apply caps equally, or not at all.”

Hastings lays out how all the services are using the same IP address, the same device, and the same internet connection, yet different data cap treatments apply, asking “in what way is this neutral?” Comcast representatives were asked to comment, but haven’t done so as of yet.

The Netflix CEO has spoken out against ISPs before, failing to see where the high data prices were coming from. At a tech conference back in February, Hastings quipped that Comcast had a “92 percent operating margin” and that there wasn’t any financial pressure on ISPs, saying that they were “making a fortune.”

[via CNET]

Net neutrality advocates said Comcast was delivering a product that had an unfair advantage over other online video streaming services. However, that sentence about the video being delivered through a private network has been removed from the FAQ, assumedly to take away attention from the issue. Of course, though, the actual video delivery method hasn’t changed. Comcast is just rewording its verbiage on its website. There is still some cause for criticism.

The issue is that Comcast subscribers who stream over Xbox Live will not have that data counted toward their 250 GB monthly bandwidth cap. Meanwhile, if they stream throuh Netflix or Hulu or other service, it will. If you were a Comcast subscriber, which service would you choose? To make things clearer, the service’s FAQ now reads, “The Xbox 360 running our XFINITY TV app essentially acts as an additional cable box for your existing cable service, and our data usage threshold does not apply.”

[via GigaOM]

Comcast have taken fire from Public Knowledge over the decision, although the ISP claim that they’re not violating FCC rules. Comcast say that they are “committed to an open internet” and will “abide by the FCC’s Open Internet rules.” Their rationale is that Xfinity does not travel over public internet, with the Xbox 360 instead acting “as an additional cable box for your existing cable service.”

Free Press have also criticized Comcast over the move, although they note that a loophole would allow Comcast to avoid any formal complaint made to the FCC. Matt Wood, policy director for Free Press, says that not counting the video streaming against the monthly data cap “gives the Comcast product an unfair advantage against other Internet video services.” He goes on to criticize the FCC for failing “to deliver on the promise of real Net Neutrality”

The current net neutrality rules prohibit ISPs from deliberately blocking or throttling legal internet traffic. However, it doesn’t stop ISPs like Comcast from offering faster access to specific companies or services, like gaming or video streaming.

[via Slashdot]

“The internet plays an important role in the lives of citizens, consumers and industry. We now expect and depend on access to the content and services it has to offer” Ofcom CEO Ed Richards said. “Ofcom is now looking to the ISPs to ensure that transparent information is available, and will look to intervene if it does not see improvements.”

The organization has set out three key factors which ISPs must explain clearly: the average speed users should expect, how any traffic management such as throttling might impact service, and details on which services – if any – are specifically blocked. “ISPs should not use the term ‘internet access’ to refer to a service that blocks lawfully available internet services” Ofcom concludes.

If ISPs don’t step up their game, “then Ofcom could use its powers to impose minimum quality of service levels”: that’s not just on how limits are communicated, but which limits themselves are applied. A Net Neutrality framework was passed into UK law earlier this year.

The net neutrality rules ban internet providers from deliberately blocking or slowing legal internet traffic. However, they do not prevent providers from offering faster traffic for companies that may need it for delivering video, games, and other services. The rules also offer more protection for consumers, requiring providers to be give more information on their services and actual speeds.

Although the new rules apply mostly to wired broadband networks, it will also require wireless internet providers to have fewer restrictions. There’s been plenty of opposition, which argue that the rules would only require more paperwork and that the FCC was overstepping its authority. Lawsuits were filed by Verizon and MetroPCS seeking to block the net neutrality rules, but the cases were dismissed as premature since the rules were not in place yet at the time. With the rules taking effect in November, we’ll be sure to see more lawsuits to come.

[via WSJ]

The issue of net neutrality, already a major issue in US, has begun to move up the political agenda in the UK as well. The FCC rules adopted in December in the US did not stop ISPs from charging more for faster access, which some say creates a two-tiered internet.

Sir Tim does not take issue with traffic management, but says that any move to limit access to content, or only being able to access certain content through certain service providers is taking things too far. “What you lose when you do that is you lose the open market,” he said. “What the companies gain is that they get complete control of you.”

Others have worried about net neutrality regulations giving the government too much control over the internet, which poses its own set of dangers.

The FCC’s proposals would prevent internet providers from blocking or limiting services, internet sites or connectivity. Proponents warn of a system whereby content providers, sites or other interested parties could prioritize their traffic over that of rivals, or where companies could negotiate better bandwidth with ISPs.

At the consumer end, so-called tiered service is also threatened. Republicans claim the current system of unregulated internet access is working as it should, and that FCC intervention would lead to a negative impact on businesses.

[Thanks N900mixalot!]

Verizon has announced on Thursday that they will be going to court to combat the newest net neutrality rules. They will be taking their movement to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. According to the report, Verizon is concerned by the FCC’s authority, in its overall broad approach, to make new regulations on broadband networks.

Michael Glover, Verizon’s Deputy General counsel, had this to say: “We believe this assertion of authority goes well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers.”

The movement means that the net neutrality issue is about to pick up speed again, and Verizon will more than likely continue to make it interesting as the days continue.

[via Reuters]

In his arguments, the Wikipedia chief sounded most like open-access device users, such as those keen to hack the iPhone or proponents of Android’s open-source nature. According to Wales, “we own [the] device, and we should control it.”

Meanwhile, Wales also commented on net neutrality, though he was less concerned about the arguments over differently prioritized pipes creating a tiered internet. Current fears were “highly overblown” he suggested, claiming much of the panic was over hypothetical issues that posed no immediate danger.

“Some of these providers have stated that they may take measures that could degrade, disrupt, or increase the cost of user access to certain of our products by restricting or prohibiting the use of their infrastructure.” Google SEC filing

While Google was pipped to the post by Verizon in 2008 in the last significant wireless spectrum auction, analysts still believe the search company maintains ambitions in the wireless space. Despite CNN’s enthusiasm, it’s not something that seems likely in the near future, and analysts agree. “While I think Google could become a mobile provider, I’d view it as a nuclear option” Forrester Research’s Jeffrey Hammond claims, while others believe it’s a thinly-veiled threat to keep operators “on their toes.”

R3 Media Network

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To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

*Image from ArsTechnica.

First lets hear from Media Access Project, aka MAP:

“MAP respects and admires the work of Commissioners Michael J. Copps and Mignon Clyburn on this important issue, but MAP cannot support the watered-down, loophole-ridden option that the FCC appears to have chosen. The inadequate protections for wireless technologies are especially troublesome, as wireless services provide an onramp to the Internet for many of the nation’s poor and minority citizens.”

Next up is Verizon, who sent out a press release today:

Although we share with the FCC the overarching goals of an open Internet, we are deeply concerned by today’s 3-2 decision.  The FCC’s majority breaks with years of bipartisan communications policies that recognized that Internet innovation and investment – and the jobs they create – thrive without government intervention. There is no doubt that the policies put in place by the Clinton Administration and the Bush Administration to jumpstart innovation and the spread of broadband worked.  As a result, America’s broadband and Internet marketplace is intensely competitive and an engine of economic growth, job creation and multibillion-dollar investment. Today’s decision, however, unnecessarily departs from these successful policies.

After that, Timothy Karr who is a Campaign Director at Free Press and SaveTheInternet.com:

The rule is so riddled with loopholes that it’s become clear that this FCC chairman crafted it with the sole purpose of winning the endorsement of AT&T and cable lobbyists, and not defending the interests of the tens of millions of Internet users. … For the first time in history of telecommunications law the FCC has given its stamp of approval to online discrimination.

Finally, the wise wizard, your friend and mine, co-founder of Apple and the coolest Santa-looking technology voice in the world, Steve Wozniak:

I was also taught that space, and the moon, were free and open. Nobody owned them. No country owned them. I loved this concept of the purest things in the universe being unowned.

The early Internet was so accidental, it also was free and open in this sense. The Internet has become as important as anything man has ever created. But those freedoms are being chipped away. Please, I beg you, open your senses to the will of the people to keep the Internet as free as possible. Local ISP’s should provide connection to the Internet but then it should be treated as though you own those wires and can choose what to do with them when and how you want to, as long as you don’t destruct them. I don’t want to feel that whichever content supplier had the best government connections or paid the most money determined what I can watch and for how much. This is the monopolistic approach and not representative of a truly free market in the case of today’s Internet.

…

We have very few government agencies that the populace views as looking out for them, the people. The FCC is one of these agencies that is still wearing a white hat. Not only is current action on Net Neutrality one of the most important times ever for the FCC, it’s probably the most momentous and watched action of any government agency in memorable times in terms of setting our perception of whether the government represents the wealthy powers or the average citizen, of whether the government is good or is bad. This decision is important far beyond the domain of the FCC itself.

Feel free to leave your own comment below with fire or ice OR contact FCC to get wild or congratulate them on their work. The internet belong to us!

SlashVERIZON’D
Looks like blogger “Marley” of ShutterMug found a simple way to prove Verizon to be amongst those evil companies who sell your information unless you tell them specifically you’d like them not to do that. Upon signing up with a friend to FiOs with Verizon recently, Marley was asked if they’d like to use “an alias for [their] listing.” Not soon after signing up, a common bit of snail-mail spam came through the mail with none other than that alias printed quite clearly. Shucks.

[Via ShutterMug]

R3 Media Network

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To see more wrap-up posts, follow the following tags: [The Daily Slash] or [SlashGear Morning Wrap-up]

“What Level 3 wants is to pressure Comcast into accepting more than a twofold increase in the amount of traffic Level 3 delivers onto Comcast’s network — for free. In other words, Level 3 wants to compete with other CDNs, but pass all the costs of that business onto Comcast and Comcast’s customers, instead of Level 3 and its customers” Comcast statement

Level 3′s stance is that Comcast is using its control over customer cable access to limit which companies can compete and unfairly drive up costs while holding them to ransom. Comcast was issued a C&D order by the FCC in April this year for throttling video bandwidth to better balance overall traffic for all users (a ruling which was overturned recently by a court of appeal); Level 3 is pushing for this incident to be seen in a similar light.

It seems Comcast would be happy if Level 3 started paying it the same as other CDN providers currently do, but of course Level 3 is reluctant to lose its price advantage over rivals. Meanwhile Comcast is apparently threatening that Level 3 must accept the terms or face a block on its traffic. The FCC is likely to vote on net neutrality later this month.

The vote could have significant impact on the nature of the internet service users in the US experience. Already the Court of Appeals of Washington has ruled in Comcast’s favor over a cease and desist order imposed by the FCC in April 2010, after the ISP throttled video bandwidth in order to preserve sufficient pipe for regular browsers.

SlashNEUTRALITY
You know that pesky little thing called Net Neutrality – aka the principal that service providers and governments should not be allowed to restrict content, sites, platforms, equipment and modes of communication through the internet? Well the UK Communications Minister Ed Vaizey is against that, saying today at a London telecommunications conference organized by the Financial Times: “the market should decide the extent to which service providers can charge for preferential content delivery and slow down other traffic.”

Enough said?

[Via Reddit]

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Mercedes-Benz Biome Concept Car is Grown Inside a Nursery [CONCEPT]
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Assistant Professor Wants to Install a Camera Into the Back of His Head
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To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]