The FCC Gives the Internet Back to You, the People

[Aristotle]

The FCC Gives the Internet Back to You, the People

This week marks a huge win for the FCC, and for you, fellow netizens and Maximum PC fans. The FCC just went and pushed forward a proposal to reclassify internet service as a public utility—just like electricity and water.

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FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler revealed his plans this week under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. This is a huge win for everyone—except the providers of course. There's no doubt in my mind right now that the providers are spending millions to scour the world for the very best lawyers so they can fight this move into the ground. It'll be a battle of epic proportions.

In a full statement given to Wired, "I am submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC," wrote Wheeler. "These enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services."

Wheeler isn't stopping with traditional landlines though. He's going after the airwaves too, which is a major landmark move for the FCC.

"I propose to fully apply—for the first time ever--those bright-line rules to mobile broadband. My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone's permission."

[Gromgor]

As with the previous thread where they were talking about the possibility of doing this, I still think there's going to be something shady that happens.

I'm wondering if this is actually going to be a backdoor to a lot of warrantless monitoring. I mean, not that they need such apparently, but still....

[Jyn]

This guy used to be a Telecom lobbyist, no? It's not shady government I'm worried about, but how it will end up shadily helping the telecom companies despite seemingly hurting them. On paper, it looks like a good thing, but I can't help but wonder what the actual effects will be.

Remember when Obamacare was starting up and all the insurance companies cried foul? I knew they were just blowing smoke. No one wanted Obamacare to pass more than insurance companies, but the public seemed to believe the narrative that insurance companies were fighting it. Compare all the health insurance company stock prices from pre to post Obamacare. Skyrocket is the word that comes to mind. This is the type of hidden agenda I'm worried about playing out.

[Reshad]

This is the type of hidden agenda I'm worried about playing out.

Take this with a bag of salt as I'm shooting from the hip rather than researching first, but: If internet becomes a public utility, then that means they're basically saying that all Americans should have access to it. It should open up the infrastructure to newcomers, but I think it's likely that taxes would become a big part of infrastructure maintenance. Given that the infrastructure is the most expensive part of it all, that could potentially prove more profitable to the service providers than selling bandwidth priority.

** Even if I'm right there, I still prefer this to bandwidth squeezing. Just stating the potential.

[Rosuav]

If internet becomes a public utility, then that means they're basically saying that all Americans should have access to it. It should open up the infrastructure to newcomers, but I think it's likely that taxes would become a big part of infrastructure maintenance.

Very reasonable fear. The Government isn't doing things for nothing, and what gets legislated gets taxed. And what's the betting that there's going to be some kind of "tail-snap" rule somewhere that affects companies that offer free wifi? (I mean, where do you draw the line? Google Fiber is surely counted. Is hotel wifi? At what point does a company that has a connection to the internet and offers that to people become an ISP?) If a coffee shop or bookstore wants to offer wifi to its customers, they should have the right to do what they like - for instance, to stop their users from connecting out on port 25 and sending spam.

Now, maybe this will all turn out beautifully, and certainly I'd prefer legislation saying "make it fair for everyone" to legislation saying the opposite, but I don't trust the US Government, nor any other bureaucracy - nor any corporate, for that matter - to be genuinely altruistic. I'd love to have my fears proven baseless, but until then, I'm going to assume that anything the government does is doubtful.

[Jyn]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/te...vote.html?_r=0

Man, I really want to believe this can only be a good thing for the future of the internet, but the cynical part of me can't ignore this. If the Republicans are not only not going to fight this to the end, but also actually acknowledge it as a defeat, this screams to me collusion. It's something they all want, but Republicans don't want to be seen as agreeable on this issue, which makes me question what they actually plan to do. *sigh*

[Rosuav]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/te...vote.html?_r=0

Man, I really want to believe this can only be a good thing for the future of the internet, but the cynical part of me can't ignore this. If the Republicans are not only not going to fight this to the end, but also actually acknowledge it as a defeat, this screams to me collusion. It's something they all want, but Republicans don't want to be seen as agreeable on this issue, which makes me question what they actually plan to do. *sigh*

Agreed. It's bits like this that worry me:

The plan would also give the F.C.C. the power to step in if unforeseen impediments are thrown up by the handful of giant companies that run many of the country’s broadband and wireless networks.

Just how broad *is* the FCC's power to be? What happens when it gets miswielded? Presumably the point of it is to reign in the ISPs... but what if it ends up being abused to keep smaller ISPs out of the market, thus permitting the big ones to maintain their positions? Can we really trust the FCC with this power?

[Gromgor]

Can we really trust the FCC with this power?

Of all of the government agencies in the US, in all honesty, the FCC is probably one of the most powerful, but also one of the most reasonable. I mean, I despise ALL government agencies, for the most part, but of those I am most willing to compromise on, the FCC is probably in the top 5.