In the wake of the FCC's Net Neutrality vote, all web content is created equal. However, nothing is every black and white, and there is a new gray area when it comes to managed services. HBO, Showtime, and Sony Corp. are pushing for their streaming content to be treated separately and have talked to Comcast Corp. about being included in their separate data lane for "managed services."
Verizon is a pretty crafty company. Not only have they built one of the better mobile networks around, but their response to the FCC’s Net Neutrality ruling is — well, it’s subtle brilliance. Snarky, too. Today is Thursday, which means on the Internet — the thing the FCC is now regulating strictly — it’s Throwback Thursday. Verizon thinks the FCC’s decision is a throwback, too. To the 1930’s, when Title II came to pass. How does Verizon respond to the ruling, though? By getting in the spirit, of course!
Your broadband Internet is now a utility. Today, the FCC voted to make your broadband Internet a utility, which means providers can be reclassified as a Title II public utility. That also gives the FCC more oversight with regard to your provider, which even reach into mobile broadband. In making their ruling, the FCC also banned ‘paid prioritization’, which was the catalyst for much of the ‘Net Neutrality’ debate. Now, your Internet service will not only remain free and open, but it’ll also be regulated.
Twitter just posted a proclaimation on their blog defining their stance on net neutrality. In case it wasn't obvious before, Twitter is in favor of it. Their timing isn't coincidental at all. This week, there is an upcoming net neutrality proposal by Chairman Tom Wheeler of the FCC that aims to actually protect consumers and competition. The FCC will vote on this very proposal on February 26th in their open meeting. The current proposal aims to make the Internet a level playing field once and for all.
We expected FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to rule in favor of ‘Net Neutrality’, so today’s letter comes as no real surprise. What Wheeler laid out was effectively a blueprint for keeping the Internet as free and open as we find it now, possibly forever. After a whopping four million public comments on the matter, Wheeler is set to ask his commissioners to examine a proposal to officially reclassify mobile broadband providers like AT&T under Title II, which will give the FCC stricter oversight.
The FCC is likely going to rule that broadband should be reclassified later this month in order to better enforce what we all call net neutrality. The ruling will undoubtedly be met with much opposition from big companies, and AT&T has already begun the hemming and hawing over what may come by stalling their fiber optic build out. Now, AT&T is releasing their planned opposition to what the FCC will likely bring, laying out their incoming legal challenge for all to see.
The FCC might be heating up the old net neutrality debate again come Thursday. The agency is expected to propose the rules that would determine how business around the Internet will be treated in the years to come. In this latest version, FCC chair Tom Wheeler is expected to adopt President Obama's stance to treat broadband providers the same way telecommunications companies are treated and to regulate them as public utilities, giving government more weight over the deals between broadband providers and content providers, much to the chagrin of many in the industry.
It's not that the CEO of BlackBerry, John Chen, doesn't know what Net Neutrality means. It's just that he - and the rest of the company - want it to mean something that also happens to be extremely beneficial to them. Chen suggests that Net Neutrality should include apps and services, and that this means that Apple should be lawfully obligated to release their iMessage app and service to all mobile operating systems, not just iOS - not just the iPhone, but BlackBerry devices too.
As the FCC prepares to rule on Net Neutrality next month, all parties are drawing their line in the sand. Whether interested parties like it or not, the FCC is going to have to make a ruling on the future of the Internet. Many mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T are opposed to any kind of reclassification, which would make them move governable. Net Neutrality won’t make many friends for the FCC, but a new line of commentary from a strange source might be the wisest yet.
Major tech companies sent a letter addressed to the FCC and Congress today in opposition to President Obama’s stance on Net Neutrality. The letter, sent by the Technology Industry Association (TIA), was signed by more than 60 companies including Cisco, dLink, IBM, and Intel. Outlining a trickle-down effect that would ultimately lead to stifling technological investments, the scope of the letter is that reclassification under Title II of the Telecommunications Act is a bad thing. It also serves as a line in the sand, as other tech companies like Netflix or Amazon support reclassification.
German leader Angela Merkel made comments earlier in the week on the topic of net neutrality, an important issue being discussed by a number of European governments, not to mention the U.S. Unfortunately for those in support of an internet with speeds unregulated by telecommunications companies, Chancellor Merkel doesn't feel the same, arguing instead for the controversial "two-lane" setup that has many users concerned.
Netflix is no stranger to running afoul of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). At various turns along their way, Netflix has struck agreements to push their content onto screens across the country. According to the FCC, this amounts to an Internet “fast lane” — the very thing Netflix is arguing we shouldn’t have. Though the company is very outspoken regarding net neutrality, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai says their actions don’t match what they say. To his mind, Netflix is taking step to “effectively secure” Internet fast and slow lanes.
