Tech industry asks US court to reconsider net neutrality ruling
In petitions filed with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, internet trade group INCOMPAS and various advocacy groups asked the three-judge panel to rehear the case or the full appeals court to take up the issue.
[...] Members of the trade groups include Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet Inc.
Advocacy groups filing petitions include Public Knowledge, Free Press and the Centre for Democracy & Technology.
"The FCC abdicated its ability to regulate the behaviour of ISPs for the first time in its history. As a consequence, ISPs are permitted to block or throttle Internet access, demand pay-to-play ransom from Internet edge providers, or otherwise interfere with end users’ access to the Internet," the petition said.
FCC spokeswoman Tina Pelkey said the agency is confident the court's decision "will stand and that we will continue to have a free and open Internet moving forward."
The appeals court, in its October decision, also ruled the FCC erred when it declared that states cannot pass their own net neutrality laws and ordered the agency to review some key aspects of its 2017 repeal of rules set by the Obama administration, including public safety implications and how its decision will impact a government subsidy programme for low-income users.
The 2017 FCC 3-2 vote handed internet providers sweeping powers to recast how Americans use the internet, as long as they disclose changes. The new rules took effect in June 2018 but ISPs have yet to change how users access the internet.
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The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled an April 25 vote to restore net neutrality rules similar to the ones introduced during the Obama era and repealed under former President Trump.
"After the prior administration abdicated authority over broadband services, the FCC has been handcuffed from acting to fully secure broadband networks, protect consumer data, and ensure the Internet remains fast, open, and fair," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said today. "A return to the FCC's overwhelmingly popular and court-approved standard of net neutrality will allow the agency to serve once again as a strong consumer advocate of an open Internet."
[...]
In a filing with the FCC, Turner wrote that "ISPs have been incredibly bullish about the future of their businesses precisely because of the network investments they are making" and that the companies rarely, if ever, mention the impact of FCC regulation during calls with investors."We believe that the ISPs' own words to their shareholders, and to industry analysts through channels governed by the SEC, should be afforded significantly more weight than evidence-free tropes, vague threats, dubious aggregate capital expenditure tallies, or nonsensical math jargon foisted on the Commission this docket or elsewhere," Turner wrote.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by barbara hudson on Monday December 16 2019, @03:04PM (4 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 3, Informative) by ikanreed on Monday December 16 2019, @03:12PM (1 child)
While I agree, we also need to destroy monopolisitic ISPs
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday December 16 2019, @06:22PM
The government needs its "kill switch" and content control, and only the ISPs can do that. We need to circumvent them with bulletproof multicast tech that nobody can interfere.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @04:48PM (1 child)
Suuure, but not related to NN and it comes off as supportive of removing NN protections.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday December 18 2019, @02:37AM
Make content the king again.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @04:16PM (4 children)
both sides are only out to screw us anyway
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday December 16 2019, @06:35PM (3 children)
And Bernie Sanders now has a plan out there to replace one of the mega-corps with publicly owned ISPs controlled at the municipal level. I'm not sure which is worse: A potentially unaccountable government-run system, or an unaccountable monopoly system. I know some libertarian types will just assume the government-run system is worse because government, but I'm familiar enough with the cyberpunk genre and modern legal standards to know that megacorps are also extremely dangerous critters.
Basically, you should assume that whoever has control of the wires controls what information goes down those wires, regardless of the legalities.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @07:16PM
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/12/08/009208 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Monday December 16 2019, @07:31PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Monday December 16 2019, @10:39PM
The one that is only POTENTIALLY unaccountable is better.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday December 16 2019, @04:54PM (1 child)
My ISP shouldn't be restricting usage. They shouldn't be snooping on the data stream, they shouldn't be tracking which online stores I like to frequent, and they shouldn't be throttling speeds. Sure, I can see load balancing to some degree, but that's a fair bit different than basing throttling around your particular usage. Also, they should be required to show average speeds in your area and market it with those numbers at the front.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday December 16 2019, @06:56PM
Also, they should be required to show average speeds in your area and market it with those numbers at the front.
You know the process for making that happen, right? It's guaranteed to work.. "Voting is the easy part" [coloradosun.com]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Monday December 16 2019, @06:00PM (2 children)
The entire repeal is based on the ludicrous claim that the internet is NOT a Telecommunications Service [theverge.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 16 2019, @10:19PM (1 child)
Well, have you ever tried to use the internet to communicate at a distance?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Monday December 16 2019, @10:42PM
Yes.
If I make a phone call via a landline, it's protected by common carrier status.
If I make a phone call via a cellphone, it's protected by common carrier status.
If I make a phone call via IP, suddenly they can do whatever the fuck they want.