Net Neutrality: Telcos Want to Charge Web Sites for Web Speed, Access Preference

[mandy]

Update:

Net neutrality has returned to Capitol Hill.

The saga of Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent file-sharing traffic--and intense interest from the Federal Communications Commission, including a hearing at Stanford University last week--has appended the topic onto at least some politicians' to-do list.

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing entitled "The Future of the Internet" on Tuesday, Democratic politicians argued for passage of a law designed to prohibit broadband operators from creating a "fast lane" for certain Internet content and applications. Their stance drew familiar criticism from the cable industry, their Republican counterparts, and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who said there's no demonstrated need for new rules, at this point...

full article: http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9925517...=nefd.lede

[mandy]

The latest twist in the net neutrality battle:

The long-running debate over net neutrality took another turn Thursday when two lawmakers introduced a bill that would make it a violation of antitrust law for broadband providers to discriminate against different types of content in routing traffic on their networks...

The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 may play a large role in keeping broadband providers from discriminating against consumers. The Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, introduced in the House of Representatives on Thursday, seeks to leverage antitrust law -- specifically, provisions of the Clayton Act -- to ensure that neutrality rules are followed...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/House-De...62946.html

[mandy]

The latest:

Remember how Comcast this week told us that 1) the FCC's "Internet policy statement" had no legal force and 2) that the agency might not have the authority to enact such rules even if it wanted to? Those theories will soon be put to the test, as Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin now says he wants to rule against Comcast in the dispute over the company's P2P upload throttling. Score one huge, precedent-setting win for net neutrality backers... 

full article: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...ering.html

[mandy]

An update:

Reports continue to circulate that the FCC has enough votes to rule that Comcast illegally blocked traffic between peer-to-peer Internet applications and that the government will soon set down guidelines for the Internet service provider that could serve as a precedent regarding the hotly debated topic of Net neutrality. The FCC could issue a ruling later this week, following reports in national media that Democratic commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps have joined Chairman Kevin Martin in deciding that Comcast should face some kind of action or sanction...

Net neutrality advocates are all but claiming outright victory. "We are heartened by reports the commission will find Comcast's blocking to be illegal," Markham Erickson, executive director of Open Internet Coalition, told the E-Commerce Times. "This will be a key opportunity for the commission to enforce the broadband policy statement to protect consumers' rights. A decision in support of the complaint against Comcast will help promote competition and choice on the Internet." ,,,

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/FCC-to-H...63966.html

[susanspy]

Hi there,

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Cheers!!!