“This is serious business… (Net Neutrality)
… sex and violence and rock’n’roll.” – John Mellencamp, “Serious Business,” from the 1983 album, “Uh-Huh.”
…and let’s not forget – “Net Neutrality.”
As I sat on my deck this evening at around 5:30 PM (in warm sunshine at 70-72 degrees F – ah, California!) in only my faded Netscape gym shorts, drinking red wine, I thought about two things: 1) what would be the social implications of federal weapons labs employing the mentally ill in violation of their own rules (Myers-Briggs “_STJ” and “_NTJ” types ALL love rules – _STJs FOLLOW the rules, and _NTJs, on the other hand, like rules FOR OTHER PEOPLE 
), and if they did not follow up after the employee’s retirement, and 2) what are the social implications of the federal appeals court ruling AGAINST “Net Neutrality.”
While the first question MIGHT conceivably become a problem for those of us in Livermore and other places, the second issue WILL BE a problem for all of us.
A federal appeals court decision yesterday, that the FCC (Federal Communications Commision) has no power to regulate Net Neutrality, unanimously threw out the FCC’s 2008 “cease and desist” order against Comcast, which had taken measures to slow BitTorrent transfers before voluntarily ending them earlier that year. Because the FCC “has failed to tie its assertion” of regulatory authority to an actual law enacted by Congress, the agency does not have the power to regulate an Internet provider’s network management practices, wrote Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Coput of Appeals for the D.C.Circuit.
So, as the CNET article is entitled, “IS Net neutrality dead? (FAQ)”
Although the recent court ruling has cleared Comcast’s name, some consumer advocates say that the ruling has also stripped the FCC of its power to enforce basic Internet openness principles.
According to the CNET article:
“What is Net neutrality?
There is no clear definition of the term Net neutrality, but in general it refers to the concept that Internet users should have unfettered access to content and services. In other words, service providers should not be allowed to either impede or favor access to particular sites or applications, the theory goes.
There have been several efforts to create laws to protect Net neutrality, but they’ve all failed. Instead the FCC, has tried to guide the Internet community by coming up with guidelines. In 2005, under then FCC chairman Michael Powell, the agency adopted four Open Internet Principles (PDF), which can be summarized this way: network operators cannot prevent users from accessing lawful Internet content, applications, and services of their choice, nor can they prohibit users from attaching non-harmful devices to the network.
Kevin Martin used these principles as the basis for the FCC’s action against Comcast, which had taken measures to slow BitTorrent traffic on its network.”
“We must decide whether the Federal Communications Commission has authority to regulate an Internet service provider’s network management practices,” Tatel wrote in his 36-page opinion
According to the CNET article:
“The court didn’t strip the FCC of all its authority, but the ruling does call into question how far the FCC may go in certain instances. Two things could happen going forward to clarify the FCC’s authority and bolster the agency’s authority. The agency can change the classification of broadband Internet services from Title I information services to Title II telecommunications services, or Congress could enact a new law that specifically addresses Net neutrality.”
Read the CNET article for quotes from AT&T and Comcast with regard to their support for an Open Internet.
(Note added April 15, 2010: More than a million people have banded together in support of Net Neutrality at SaveTheInternet.com.)
-Bill at
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