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posted by martyb on Tuesday November 28 2017, @12:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-change-to-a-competitor dept.

For years, Comcast has been promising that it won't violate the principles of net neutrality, regardless of whether the government imposes any net neutrality rules. That meant that Comcast wouldn't block or throttle lawful Internet traffic and that it wouldn't create fast lanes in order to collect tolls from Web companies that want priority access over the Comcast network.

This was one of the ways in which Comcast argued that the Federal Communications Commission should not reclassify broadband providers as common carriers, a designation that forces ISPs to treat customers fairly in other ways. The Title II common carrier classification that makes net neutrality rules enforceable isn't necessary because ISPs won't violate net neutrality principles anyway, Comcast and other ISPs have claimed.

But with Republican Ajit Pai now in charge at the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast's stance has changed. While the company still says it won't block or throttle Internet content, it has dropped its promise about not instituting paid prioritization.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/comcast-quietly-drops-promise-not-to-charge-tolls-for-internet-fast-lanes/


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 28 2017, @04:31PM (#602553)
    I'm just glad the Googles of the world hate the Comcasts of the world and vice versa. Imagine how awful it would be if they joined forces. That's why, in retrospect, I'm kind of glad Google Fiber didn't work out. They would eventually thought police their entire closed communication ecosystem start to finish, and it would all be completely legal since they're a company and not the government. It might not be a stretch to say they would straight-up block IPs they deemed "hate speech" or whatever the phrase of the month is now.

    But then, what's stopping Comcast from doing the same when NN is gutted (or even now)? They're also a company. Maybe it's the distant threat of Google Fiber becoming a reality again, since Google's lobbyist army is starting to mature and could overturn (or at least expand) various local and state anti-competition laws.

    I *really* hope the tech companies and cable companies keep fighting each other. It might ironically be the only thing keeping some semblance of free speech on corporate mediums alive, even if their only interest is making sure their advertisements and other paid propaganda are free to reach your eyeballs.
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