Senators renew quest for Net neutrality rules
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Blog: Pair of politicos who pushed last year for strict nondiscrimination requirements for broadband operators are looking to federal regulators to help revive their cause.
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Citizens have until Friday to sway government regulators on net neutrality, the principle that ISPs should treat all packets of internet data equally.
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"Net neutrality" is a technical concept that has protected online freedom. It's essentially the First Amendment for the Internet - allowing Web users to go where they want and do what they please online.
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Blog: Amidst thousands of comments about whether Net neutrality rules are needed, media conglomerate urges FCC to stress that broadband providers must fight transfer of copyrighted works.
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Agency seeks public comment as first step in deciding how far Internet service providers can go before they transcend "reasonable network management" and run afoul of federal policy.
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At a House hearing in Washington, polticians debated whether or not to renew the ban on taxing net access. Opponents say its original purpose, to spur net usage, has long been accomplished.
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Senate Democrats pressed the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission this week to slap tighter controls on media ownership, public-interest broadcasting and television violence. But after a sometimes contentious two-hour hearing Thursday, some lawmakers expressed little hope of...
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The U.S. Senate approved a bill extending the moratorium on Internet access taxes for seven years. But the measure needs to be reconciled with a four-year ban proposed by the House.
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Congress is poised to extend a ban on taxing Internet access, a move that would please Internet service providers but possibly cost states millions of dollars in lost revenue.
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(InfoWorld) - Debate over upcoming auctions of wireless spectrum in the U.S. has reached new heights -- the U.S. presidential campaign. This week, John Edwards, a leading Democratic candidate for president and former U.S. senator, called on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to ensure that small companies and wholesalers can bid on pieces of the 700MHz band when theÂ spectrum goes to auctionÂ by early next year. Winners of the spectrumÂ should not be able to "discriminate"Â against competing Web content and services, Edwards added in a letter sent Wednesday to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Edwards'Â call for nondiscriminationÂ of Web content echoes requests by net neutrality advocates, who argue that the FCC or the U.S. Congress should prohibit broadband carriers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Edwards' proposal is similar to one advanced by Frontline Wireless, which has called for part of the spectrum to be made available to wholesalers. By taking the steps Edwards suggested, the FCC would ensure that all U.S. residents have access to inexpensive broadband, the presidential candidate wrote. The Internet "improves our democracy by making quiet voices loud, improves our economy by making small markets big, and improves opportunity by making unlikely dreams possible," Edwards wrote. "By setting bid and service rules that unleash the potential of smaller new entrants, you can transform the information opportunity for people across America -- rural and urban, wealthy and not." The spectrum will become available by February 2009. That's the date by which Congress voted last year to require U.S. TV stations to switch to digital broadcasts and abandon channels 51 to 69. Tech and telecom companies are eyeing the new spectrum for a variety of wireless broadband services. Each tower transmitting in the upper 700MHz spectrum band can cover up to four times the large geographic area as towers in higher bands, experts say. Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group that backs net neutrality rules, applauded Edwards' involvement in the 700MHz debate. Public Knowledge is part of a coalition also calling for "open access" for parts of the 700MHz band. Edwards' involvement can help raise the spectrum debate to another level, said Art Brodsky, spokesman for Public Knowledge. "That's a welcome development because this subject matter is important to our economy and to consumers," Brodsky said. Public Knowledge has suggested that the 700MHz auction represents the best chance for broadband competition to cable and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) providers in the near future. Major broadband providers haveÂ opposed calls for open accessÂ to the auctioned spectrum. A representative of Verizon Communications declined to comment on the Edwards letter, and an AT&T representative wasn't immediately available. But the Frontline proposal for open access and wholesale providers creates heavy regulations for the spectrum use, said Randolph J. May, president of conservative think tank The Free State Foundation. May called on the FCC to reject the Frontline proposal in an e-mail sent out Wednesday. "The managed competition vision rests on an assumption, rarely stated this bluntly, of course, that the regulators, through their supervision and control of unbundling decisions, can do better than the marketplace in promoting consumer welfare," May wrote.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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Congress moved toward reinstating a ban on Internet-access taxes after the Senate on Wednesday tweaked a measure it had previously passed with hopes the House of Representative would take it up.
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A 165-page report issued yesterday by the US Federal Trade Commission examines the arguments surrounding the issue of whether to enforce "net neutrality" provisions - which would essentially mean equal access among consumers to all Internet content regardless of provider or service class - before coming to almost zero conclusions regarding a possible course of action.
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After weeks of negotiations, the  U.S. Senate could take action this week on a bill that would  make it easier to sue "peer-to-peer" networks like Kazaa and  LimeWire that allow users to copy music and movies over the  Internet.
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Some advocacy groups praise a new net neutrality bill in Congress.
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Two senators on Wednesday threatened  to introduce bipartisan legislation that would block the U.S.  Federal Communication Commission from acting quickly to ease  rules governing media ownership.
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After weeks of negotiations, the U.S. Senate could take action this week on a bill that would make it easier to sue "peer-to-peer" networks like Kazaa and LimeWire that allow users to copy music and movies over the Internet.
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Senate Democrats pressed the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission yesterday to slap tighter controls on media ownership, public-interest broadcasting and television violence.