If you’ve been following our blog in recent years, you know that we have a deep interest in the principle of net neutrality. We have been pretty outspoken in our concern that Trump’s FCC would gut Obama’s 2015 net neutrality policies.
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Back in May of last year, the FCC’s website went down. At the time, the agency blamed it on DDoS attacks – a claim that was disbelieved by many, especially net neutrality supporters because the timing coincided with a relevant segment John Oliver did on Last Week Tonight that presumably drove large amounts of traffic to the site with an intent of voicing opposition to a net neutrality repeal. Continue reading
We’ve discussed why we think it’s important to save net neutrality a number of times, and our feelings on the topic haven’t changed. So we’re very happy when we see efforts being made to keep “big business” from controlling how we all use the internet despite the FCC’s December vote to roll back the protections that had been in place. Continue reading
2017 has been a busy year for Technology. Dominating the news cycle since January have been ongoing stories and discussions about hacking (from elections to ad networks), cryptocurrencies, smart speakers, self-driving cars, and of course net neutrality. Here are some predictions of what the top Technology stories in 2018 might turn out to be… Continue reading
Earlier today the FCC voted 3-2 to roll back the rules preventing ISPs from controlling the free flow of bits and bytes on the Internet – a vote that clearly favors Big Business over consumers. But do NOT give up now – this is not a done deal! The New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is assembling a law suit against the ruling and we need to line up behind him – and other state attorneys general – to prevent this rollback from going into effect. Spare two minutes to watch this video:
Why are the big tech companies (Facebook, Amazon, NetFlix, Google, etc) silent on the current attack on Net Neutrality? Net Neutrality is clearly a good thing for everyone, so why o why are these companies backing off the fight?
Back in December we began wondering about what a Donald Trump presidency would mean for Net Neutrality. Well, after the inauguration it took just a couple of days for the rubber to begin accosting the proverbial road. Last week President Trump announced the appointment of Ajit Pai as our new Federal Communications Commission Chairman, and he nestles in snugly with the anti-regulation/roll-it-back swagger of the new administration. Also, as a currently seated Republican FCC commissioner, he does not even need Senate approval to ascend to the Chairman’s role. (BUT: Due to the time left in his current commissioner term, Pai will have to be renominated and reconfirmed sometime this year.)
If you’ve followed this blog, you know that we are avid proponents of Net neutrality. While the Obama administration has been generally friendly to keeping Net traffic free and open – all those moving bits and bytes being treated equally by carriers – the winds of change may be blowing colder with the incoming Trump administration. It’s time for interested parties – and that is all of us who use the Internet, every day – to begin watching the positions and policies of the President-elect and his team. Below are links to a few recent pieces of solid journalism to help bring you up to speed on the potential fight(s) ahead:
For the moment, legislation around Net Neutrality carries the day. Yesterday a federal appeals court upheld the notion that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cannot discriminate and allow some Internet traffic into a “fast lane,” meanwhile relegating all other traffic to a “slow lane.”
