PROTECT NET NEUTRALITY!

Please send this message to the FCC. We only have ONE DAY LEFT!

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

and my hyphenated name.. and my husband.. and each of my kids....

U.S. Court Curbs FCC Authority on Web Traffic

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/technology/07net.html?ref=technology

(Sorry for lack of synopsis; posting from iPod)

Thanks for providing the opportunity!

The next FCC meeting is on April 21. The window for commenting on matters to be taken up at that meeting stays open until the 14th. And net neutrality isn't on the agenda anyway.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-297268A1.pdf

It's a done deal. Your comments to the FCC will mean nothing, as the court has ruled they're powerless to act on them.

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The pending proceeding at the FCC raises the issue of whether the FCC should reclassify cable modem service. So from that standpoint its not over.

I should note that I subsequently figured out why it was suggested that there was "one day left". Its because the deadline for reply comments is tomorrow. Of course, it is routine and acceptable practice to submit "ex parte" comments outside the formal comment period, so the "deadline" isn't really that much of a deadline. And, in any event, the FCC has now extended the reply comment period so that interested parties can specifically address the ramifications of the DC Circuit decision.

The court ruling, which came after Comcast asserted that it had the right to slow its cable customers’ access to a file-sharing service called BitTorrent, could prompt efforts in Congress to change the law in order to give the F.C.C. explicit authority to regulate Internet service.

That could prove difficult politically, however, since some conservative Republicans philosophically oppose giving the agency more power, on the grounds that Internet providers should be able to decide what services they offer and at what price.


This completely misrepresents the aims of network neutrality and the implications of transforming the Internet from a common carrier to a corporate-controlled cesspool of stupid. Of course, the corporate media doesn't give a shit about that, and conservative Republicans are too stupid to apply the correct principle (common carrier) to this situation.

This is an issue now left to Congress, to re-write the law in order to give the FCC that authority. You can petition them for anything you want, but if they don't have the authority to do anything about it, what is the point?

I'm at a "real" computer now, so I can C&P the story...read it and weep...then act in a way that might actually have an impact.

U.S. Court Curbs F.C.C. Authority on Web Traffic

By EDWARD WYATT
Published: April 6, 2010

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that regulators had limited power over Web traffic under current law. The decision will allow Internet service companies to block or slow specific sites and charge video sites like YouTube to deliver their content faster to users.

The court decision was a setback to efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to require companies to give Web users equal access to all content, even if some of that content is clogging the network.

The court ruling, which came after Comcast asserted that it had the right to slow its cable customers’ access to a file-sharing service called BitTorrent, could prompt efforts in Congress to change the law in order to give the F.C.C. explicit authority to regulate Internet service.

That could prove difficult politically, however, since some conservative Republicans philosophically oppose giving the agency more power, on the grounds that Internet providers should be able to decide what services they offer and at what price.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/technology/07net.html?ref=technology

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Thanks for the thread, Joanne.

What is it about the court ruling don't DUers understand? The FCC has no authority here. The only recourse is a change of the law, and that happens in Congress. Sign all the petitions you want if it makes you feel good. But it is pointless. This is settled law as of yesterday. Unless and until it goes to the SCOTUS, there is nothing the FCC can do. Even if does wind up in the SCOTUS do you honestly think the GOP-led court will rule differently?

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Its considered by some to be a "nuclear" option but it wouldn't surprise me if the FCC took that step. It would be a 3-2 vote if it happens, but it could happen before the end of the year (Commissioner Copps wants it to happen before summer).

:kick: