FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access (Obama, solution)

[Inoxkeeper]

More government control coming up!

I can see it now, one day you will be able buy in Internet access in tiers, $50 for 200 sites per month and so on. Of course those visits will be taxed.

This will be very detrimental to the liberal lifestyle of collecting government checks and spending the day on line. Something must be done!

The Federal Communications Commission is considering aggressive moves to stake out its authority to oversee consumer access to the Internet, as a recent court hearing and industry opposition have cast doubt on its power over Web service providers.

The FCC, which regulates public access to telephone and television services, has been working to claim the same role for the Internet. The stakes are high, as the Obama administration pushes an agenda of open broadband access for all and big corporations work to protect their enormous investments in a new and powerful medium.

"This is a pivotal moment," said Ben Scott, director of policy at the public interest group Free Press. The government wants to treat broadband Internet as a national infrastructure, he said, like phone lines or the broadcast spectrum. But federal regulators are grappling with older policies that do not clearly protect consumers' access to the Web, their privacy or prices of service.


FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access

[thecoalman]

Net Neutrality and what the FCC is trying to enforce is a fundamental principal the internet has operated under since it's inception. When you try to connect to example1.com or example2.com neither site is going to be given preferential treatment over the other.

This is a complicated subject with many facets. What the FCC is trying to prevent is the major ISP's from monopolizing the bandwidth. For example let's say <insert major ISP here> decides to offer their own service called "City Information Forums". Under net neutrality laws they wouldn't be able to throttle your connection to "City Data Forum" and would have to provide equal service to either forum.

Tiered service where the consumer pays the bill based on the bandwidth they use is the only practical way for the Internet to evolve since the ISP will have to provide equal bandwidth to any service for any consumer. If you neighbor is running a P2P connection 24/7 and you're just using email should you pay for there excessive use of the network? Certainly not and the only logical solution is to offer bandwidth in tiers. What is important is that the consumer can access any service at the speed/bandwidth they are paying for.

[delusianne]

Originally Posted by Inoxkeeper

More government control coming up!

I can see it now, one day you will be able buy in Internet access in tiers, $50 for 200 sites per month and so on. Of course those visits will be taxed.

This will be very detrimental to the liberal lifestyle of collecting government checks and spending the day on line. Something must be done!

The Federal Communications Commission is considering aggressive moves to stake out its authority to oversee consumer access to the Internet, as a recent court hearing and industry opposition have cast doubt on its power over Web service providers.

The FCC, which regulates public access to telephone and television services, has been working to claim the same role for the Internet. The stakes are high, as the Obama administration pushes an agenda of open broadband access for all and big corporations work to protect their enormous investments in a new and powerful medium.

"This is a pivotal moment," said Ben Scott, director of policy at the public interest group Free Press. The government wants to treat broadband Internet as a national infrastructure, he said, like phone lines or the broadcast spectrum. But federal regulators are grappling with older policies that do not clearly protect consumers' access to the Web, their privacy or prices of service.


FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access

Maybe you didnt read your own article...?

The stakes are high, as the Obama administration pushes an agenda of open broadband access for all and big corporations work to protect their enormous investments in a new and powerful medium.
***
Any policies the commission pursues for the broadband marketplace will be rooted in the pro-consumer, pro-competitive structure of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, regardless of how the court ultimately decides.

Specifically, that could mean the agency will reverse policies from the past decade that put cable and DSL Internet services in a special category over which the agency has only "ancillary jurisdiction." Those policies were intended to deregulate Internet services in order to promote competition and innovation in the young industry as it developed. Consumer groups argue that they instead reduced competition and drove prices higher.

But maybe the real purpose of this thread is your sentence

This will be very detrimental to the liberal lifestyle of collecting government checks and spending the day on line.

Hard to tell....