Article

2010-04-08 Science & Technology

The FCC Strikes Back - Seeks To Reclassify ISPs As Telecoms

The option favored by public interest groups is for the FCC to take the drastic course of formally reclassifying broadband as a regulated service, reversing the position it held and defended just a few years ago.

The FCC should immediately start a proceeding bringing internet access service back under some common carrier regulation similar to that used for decades,' said Gigi Sohn, the president of the pro-net neutrality group Public Knowledge. In our view, the FCC needs to move quickly and decisively to make sure that consumers are not left at the mercy of telephone and cable companies.'

The FCC's own statement on the decision acknowledges it will have to do just that.

Today's court decision invalidated the prior Commission's approach to preserving an open internet,' said FCC spokeswoman Jen Howard in a written statement. But the Court in no way disagreed with the importance of preserving a free and open internet; nor did it close the door to other methods for achieving this important end.'

Other methods' obliquely refer to either Congress passing a law giving it the power (a process that would likely take years) or the FCC reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service in legal terms, moving broadband from Title I to Title II of the Telecommunications Act.
"Above all else, we must control what is seen and heard by the proletariat."

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-04-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11136 views ] Top

#1 Ah, redefinition. Why didn't I think of that.

Posted by gorb 2010-04-08 01:33|| 2010-04-08 01:33|| Front Page Top

#2 Greedy little tyrant fucks just won't give up, will they?

Posted by DarthVader 2010-04-08 06:47|| 2010-04-08 06:47|| Front Page Top

#3 The telecommunications act of 1996 explicitly excludes ISPs from the category of telecommunications, unless I'm mistaken.

Posted by Pstanley 2010-04-08 10:10|| 2010-04-08 10:10|| Front Page Top

#4 "Today's court decision invalidated the prior Commission's approach to preserving an open internet,"

Right. Let's call it the People's Democratic Internet you Commie Fuck.

Posted by ed 2010-04-08 10:34|| 2010-04-08 10:34|| Front Page Top

#5 They need to cease and desist.

Posted by newc 2010-04-08 10:39|| 2010-04-08 10:39|| Front Page Top

#6 Here is firedoglake's take...

Posted by newc 2010-04-08 11:16|| 2010-04-08 11:16|| Front Page Top

#7 The range of controls being actively promoted by this current FCC board is both pernicious and ugly. Unless you're plugged into the FCC through some intermediary--like a broadcaster's association--the very nature of the FCC's proceedings are archane and masked under layers of bureaucratese that are anything but transparent.

Oh, and they're idiots.

Just take a look at their proposal to shift the daisy-chain of the current EAS system to an internet system. But no one can seem to answer the question, what happens when the internet isn't available? It happened here, in December, 2007. No telcom or 'net for weeks following the Dec 4 storm. "Emergency" alert system? On a platform that wasn't/may not be accessible?

Brilliant.
.

Posted by OregonGuy 2010-04-08 16:45|| www.oregonguythinks.blogspot.com 2010-04-08 16:45|| Front Page Top

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