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To Kill Net Neutrality Rules, FCC Says Broadband Isn't “Telecommunications”

posted by on Saturday June 03 2017, @11:26AM   
from the it's-a-series-of-tubes dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

In February 2015, the FCC's then-Democratic leadership led by Chairman Tom Wheeler classified broadband as "telecommunications," superseding the previous treatment of broadband as a less heavily regulated "information service." This was crucial in the rulemaking process because telecommunications providers are regulated as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, the authority used by the FCC to impose bans on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.

Thus, when the FCC's new Republican majority voted on May 18 to start the process of eliminating the current net neutrality rules, the commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) also proposed redefining broadband as an information service once again.

To make sure the net neutrality rollback survives court challenges, newly appointed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai must justify his decision to redefine broadband less than three years after the previous change. He argues that broadband isn't telecommunications because it isn't just a simple pipe to the Internet. Broadband is an information service because ISPs give customers the ability to visit social media websites, post blogs, read newspaper websites, and use search engines to find information, the FCC's new proposal states. Even if the ISPs don't host any of those websites themselves, broadband is still an information service under Pai's definition because Internet access allows consumers to reach those websites.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/06/to-kill-net-neutrality-rules-fcc-says-broadband-isnt-telecommunications/

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Original Submission

• Remember Scalia? Remember Scalia? (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @03:20PM (1 child)

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @03:20PM (#519876)

  The guy was a pompous ass. But sometimes he got it right.
  One of those times was when he excoriated the same logic in his Brand X dissent. [theatlantic.com]

  If, for example, I call up a pizzeria and ask whether they offer delivery, both common sense and common “usage,” […] would prevent them from answering: ‘No, we do not offer delivery–but if you order a pizza from us, we’ll bake it for you and then bring it to your house.’ The logical response to this would be something on the order of, ‘so, you do offer delivery.’ But our pizza-man may continue to deny the obvious and explain, paraphrasing the FCC and the Court: ‘No, even though we bring the pizza to your house, we are not actually “offering” you delivery, because the delivery that we provide to our end users is “part and parcel” of our pizzeria-pizza-at-home service and is “integral to its other capabilities.”’

  Not only do broadband cable providers sell users a web connection, he says, but they also brag about the speed of that connection. In a footnote, he relates this to the pizza analogy:

  The myth that the pizzeria does not offer delivery becomes even more difficult to maintain when the pizzeria advertises quick delivery as one of its advantages over competitors. That, of course, is the case with cable broadband.

  Scalia—as many have done—also highlights that, to consumers, cable broadband replaces dial-up. By purchasing it, they’re replacing a telecommunications service… with an information service.

  Parent

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• Re:Remember Scalia? (Score: 2) by chewbacon on Saturday June 03 2017, @04:00PM

  by chewbacon (1032) on Saturday June 03 2017, @04:00PM (#519889)

  Man, my grandma would beat my ass when I was a kid for being such a pompous smartass.

  Parent