FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For 'Open Internet'

**Neo** · 27-02-2015, 08:06 AM

February 26, 201511:46 AM ET

At the start of a meeting to decide the issue of net neutrality, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler (center) holds hands with FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn (left) and Jessica Rosenworcel at the FCC headquarters Thursday.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission approved the policy known as net neutrality by a 3-2 vote at its Thursday meeting, with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler saying the policy will ensure "that no one — whether government or corporate — should control free open access to the Internet."

The Open Internet Order helps to decide an essential question about how the Internet works, requiring service providers to be a neutral gateway instead of handling different types of Internet traffic in different ways — and at different costs.

"Today is a red-letter day," Wheeler said Thursday.

The dissenting votes came from Michael O'Rielly and Ajut Pai, Republicans who warned that the FCC was overstepping its authority and interfering in commerce to solve a problem that doesn't exist. They also complained that the measure's 300-plus pages weren't publicly released or openly debated.

The new policy would replace a prior version adopted in 2010 — but that was put on hold following a legal challenge by Verizon.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled last year that the FCC did not have sufficient regulatory power over broadband.

After that ruling, the FCC looked at ways to reclassify broadband to gain broader regulatory powers. It will now treat Internet service providers as carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which regulates services as public utilities.

Update at 2:20 p.m. ET: Reactions — For And Against

Welcoming Thursday's news, the ACLU's legislative counsel Gabe Rottman says:

"This is a victory for free speech, plain and simple. Americans use the Internet not just to work and play, but to discuss politics and learn about the world around them. The FCC has a critical role to play in protecting citizens' ability to see what they want and say what they want online, without interference. Title II provides the firmest possible foundation for such protections. We are still sifting through the full details of the new rules, but the main point is that the Internet, the primary place where Americans exercise their right to free expression, remains open to all voices and points of view."

Broadband for America, a group whose members include major Internet service providers, is calling for Congress to intervene. Its honorary co-chairs John Sununu and Harold Ford Jr. say:

"The FCC's decision to impose obsolete telephone-era regulations on the high-speed Internet is one giant step backwards for
America's broadband networks and everyone who depends upon them. These 'Title II' rules go far beyond protecting the Open
Internet, launching a costly and destructive era of government micromanagement that will discourage private investment in new networks and slow down the breakneck innovation that is the soul of the Internet today."

Update at 1:22 p.m. ET: Rules Will Apply To Mobile

"The landmark open Internet protections that we adopted today," Wheeler says, should reassure consumers, businesses and investors.

Speaking at a news conference after the vote, Wheeler says the new policy will "ban blocking, ban throttling, and ban paid-prioritization fast lanes," adding that "for the first time, open Internet rules will be fully applicable to mobile."

Update at 1 p.m. ET: FCC Adopts Net Neutrality

By a 3-2 vote, the FCC votes to adopt net neutrality rules to "protect the open Internet."

Update at 12:50 p.m. ET: Wheeler Draws Applause

Chairman Tom Wheeler is speaking, meaning a vote is looming.

"The action that we take today is an irrefutable reflection of the principle that no one — whether government or corporate — should control free open access to the Internet," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, drawing applause and whoops of approval from some of those in attendance.

Update at 12:01 p.m. ET: A Dissenting Vote

Saying the FCC was seizing power in "a radical departure" from its earlier policies. Commissioner Ajut Pai, a Republican, spoke against the proposal. He accused the FCC of "turning its back on Internet freedom."

Pai said the commissioners were backing the new measure for only one reason: "because President Obama told us to."
Seeing the new policy as an attempt to intrude on the Internet, Pai predicted higher costs for consumers and less innovation by businesses.

Update at 11:25 a.m. ET: 'Open Internet' Portion Has Begun

After dealing with another issue (of municipalities being able to control broadband service), the FCC has turned to the new proposal.

The proposal was introduced at Thursday's meeting by Julie Veach, chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, who said it "would set forth clear, sustainable, enforceable rules to preserve and protect the open Internet as a place for innovation and free expression."

She said the order "builds on the views of some 4 million Americans" who responded to a request for comments.
Guest speakers included Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson and writer and TV producer Veena Sud, whose show The Killing survived with the help of Netflix. A short video from Tim Berners-Lee was also shown.

Our original post continues:

Precise terms and details of the policy have not been made publicly available — a situation that prompted two Republican FCC commissioners to seek to postpone Thursday's vote. That request was denied.

Summarizing "What You Need To Know" about the vote, Eyder wrote for the Two-Way, "Without net neutrality rules, ISPs could theoretically take money from companies like Netflix or Amazon to speed up traffic to their sites."

Thursday's vote comes after Commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Ajut Pai asked that the FCC "immediately release the 332-page Internet regulation plan publicly and allow the American people a reasonable period of not less than 30 days to carefully study it."

That request was denied; we'll post the document here when it's available.

FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For 'Open Internet' : The Two-Way : NPR

**Black Heart** · 27-02-2015, 08:10 AM

Can someone simplify this for me, in a couple sentences?

**slackula** · 27-02-2015, 08:46 AM

It's extremely simple. All you have to understand is th.. +++++CARRIER LOST+++++

Actual simple version: You pay your ISP for access to the internet, not for access to the portion of the internet that your ISP wants you to use.

**Boon Mee** · 27-02-2015, 08:49 AM

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Basically, it's censorship with more taxes.

**Boon Mee** · 27-02-2015, 09:03 AM

FCC: You Won’t Know What’s In Net Neutrality Until We Force It Upon You

The power grab is on, and the Obama Executive Branch will keep it all under wraps until it is too late for you to protest against it. Such has been the tendency of the Obama White House for six years, but now the brazen tyranny is being pranced in front of us as if the hard left minions of President Obama are daring us to make a peep about it.

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has revealed in various media interviews that the regulations against Americans through Net Neutrality are provided in a 332 page internet regulation proposal that he has been disallowed to make available to the public. Pai says the provisions in the regulations being proposed are a “monumental shift toward government control of how the internet works.” According to Pai, the proposed regulations “micromanages virtually every aspect of how the internet operates (through the internet conduct rule), it opens the door in billions of dollars of new taxes (through fees based on the reclassification of the internet as a utility) on broadband that consumers are going to have to pay, it will lead to slower broadband speeds, it opens the door to trial lawyers filing class actions across the country, litigation isn’t usually the best way to ensure innovation, and there are a whole host of harms that are going to happen.

Tom Wheeler, the Democrat that is the FCC chairman, has not only refused to allow the public to see the 332 pages of proposed regulations, but has now even refused to testify before Congress, claiming the secrecy is necessary because “the future of the Internet is at stake.” The refusal to go before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday comes on the eve of the FCC’s vote on new Internet regulations pertaining to net neutrality that are planned on Thursday.

The lack of transparency exists for simply one reason: because Wheeler, and the minions of the Obama Executive Branch, know that the provisions are unconstitutional, that they are acting in defiance to a court decision, and that the voting public and Republican members of Congress would disapprove of the tyrannical attack against online free speech. Wheeler, with his refusal to reveal the regulatory control contained in the 332 pages of regulations, is essentially telling us the same thing Nancy Pelosi said about the Affordable Care Act. “We’ll have to become subject to the new regulations to find out what’s in them.”

With three Democrats and two Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission, one would think the passage of the new regulatory rules would be a lock for the liberal left progressives, but commissioner Mignon Clyburn, one of the Democrats on the commission, has requested changes to the new rules that would narrow the FCC’s authority over the internet. Clyburn’s request may be a sign that the Democrat may be willing to break ranks and vote against the new rules with the two Republicans.

Behind the 332 pages is the proposal by President Barack Obama to treat the internet like a utility, which would unconstitutionally seize federal power to regulate the Internet like a public utility, establishing federal rules of control, restriction, and limits on innovation that have, up until now, allowed online technology to prosper and blossom in ways that only an unfettered free market is capable of.

FCC: You Won?t Know What?s In Net Neutrality Until We Force It Upon You

This tyrant has to go...

**baldrick** · 27-02-2015, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Basically, it's censorship

yes - like AOL - and anything that corrals retards off from the rest of the internet is a good thing

**FlyFree** · 27-02-2015, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Basically, it's censorship with more taxes.

A little bit of Fox brought to you daily by BM, the Fox echo chamber.

**slackula** · 27-02-2015, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has revealed in various media interviews that the regulations against Americans through Net Neutrality are provided in a 332 page internet regulation proposal that he has been disallowed to make available to the public. Pai says the provisions in the regulations being proposed are a “monumental shift toward government control of how the internet works.”

Stop lying.
1) The actual regulation is 8 pages long. Pai admits that the rest of the document is references to laws that have been in existence and enforced for almost twenty years and responses to public comments about the preliminary regulation, things that must be included in the proposal by law. Here is a link:
Internet regulations run 332 pages | TheHill

2) Speaking of the preliminary regulation, it was publicly available for review for a very long time and somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 million Real Americans sent comments to the FCC regarding the proposal. If you didn't read it then, well, tough shit, you shouldn't have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Tom Wheeler, the Democrat that is the FCC chairman, has not only refused to allow the public to see the 332 pages of proposed regulations

"Refused to allow" in this case just means "followed decades of precedent" that rules aren't submitted to the public before voting.

For some strange reason it was never considered as a way to hide a conspiracy until now...

**BobR** · 27-02-2015, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

FCC: You Won’t Know What’s In Net Neutrality Until We Force It Upon You

The power grab is on, and the Obama Executive Branch will keep it all under wraps until it is too late for you to protest against it. Such has been the tendency of the Obama White House for six years, but now the brazen tyranny is being pranced in front of us as if the hard left minions of President Obama are daring us to make a peep about it.

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has revealed in various media interviews that the regulations against Americans through Net Neutrality are provided in a 332 page internet regulation proposal that he has been disallowed to make available to the public. Pai says the provisions in the regulations being proposed are a “monumental shift toward government control of how the internet works.” According to Pai, the proposed regulations “micromanages virtually every aspect of how the internet operates (through the internet conduct rule), it opens the door in billions of dollars of new taxes (through fees based on the reclassification of the internet as a utility) on broadband that consumers are going to have to pay, it will lead to slower broadband speeds, it opens the door to trial lawyers filing class actions across the country, litigation isn’t usually the best way to ensure innovation, and there are a whole host of harms that are going to happen.

Tom Wheeler, the Democrat that is the FCC chairman, has not only refused to allow the public to see the 332 pages of proposed regulations, but has now even refused to testify before Congress, claiming the secrecy is necessary because “the future of the Internet is at stake.” The refusal to go before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday comes on the eve of the FCC’s vote on new Internet regulations pertaining to net neutrality that are planned on Thursday.

The lack of transparency exists for simply one reason: because Wheeler, and the minions of the Obama Executive Branch, know that the provisions are unconstitutional, that they are acting in defiance to a court decision, and that the voting public and Republican members of Congress would disapprove of the tyrannical attack against online free speech. Wheeler, with his refusal to reveal the regulatory control contained in the 332 pages of regulations, is essentially telling us the same thing Nancy Pelosi said about the Affordable Care Act. “We’ll have to become subject to the new regulations to find out what’s in them.”

With three Democrats and two Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission, one would think the passage of the new regulatory rules would be a lock for the liberal left progressives, but commissioner Mignon Clyburn, one of the Democrats on the commission, has requested changes to the new rules that would narrow the FCC’s authority over the internet. Clyburn’s request may be a sign that the Democrat may be willing to break ranks and vote against the new rules with the two Republicans.

Behind the 332 pages is the proposal by President Barack Obama to treat the internet like a utility, which would unconstitutionally seize federal power to regulate the Internet like a public utility, establishing federal rules of control, restriction, and limits on innovation that have, up until now, allowed online technology to prosper and blossom in ways that only an unfettered free market is capable of.

FCC: You Won?t Know What?s In Net Neutrality Until We Force It Upon You

This tyrant has to go...

I don't know whom to believe on this one, and like most Americans I have neither the time, energy or concern to read through 332 pages of incomprehensible legal garbage to find it.
There probably are some draconian things buried in there somewhere. I'd make the effort to read it if by doing so I could do anything about it.

**baldrick** · 27-02-2015, 10:31 AM

^ it basically rules that the seppo 'tinternet is a public utility and not a private corporate fiefdom

considering the taxpayers paid for it

**Jesus Jones** · 27-02-2015, 10:37 AM

So what of the people that said this wouldn't come and bleated conspiracy garbage. What's that I hear you say "We live in a different era of that 8 years ago" That's what you've come to accept, is it!

**lom** · 27-02-2015, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Which blogspot feeds you with arguments like those?
Backbone speed in US are in par with backbone speed in Europe but consumer speed in US is far behind those in mainland Europe.

**baldrick** · 27-02-2015, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by lom

but consumer speed in US is far behind those in mainland Europe

except where google fibre to the premises has been laid

**Boon Mee** · 27-02-2015, 12:34 PM

Heh...just like 'if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor'

Orwell is rolling over in his grave

**pseudolus** · 27-02-2015, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

So what of the people that said this wouldn't come and bleated conspiracy garbage. What's that I hear you say "We live in a different era of that 8 years ago" That's what you've come to accept, is it!

They still have their heads in the sand, praising the brand obomba, waving their red and blue flags, and because they think this is about making them "safe" are cheering this on as well.

This, like TTIP etc, is closed, and none of the representatives of the people were allowed to see the contents until after the vote! Obama is the government of Transparency my fucking arse.

**bsnub** · 27-02-2015, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by baldrick

Originally Posted by lom

but consumer speed in US is far behind those in mainland Europe

except where google fibre to the premises has been laid

Not just google fiber. Others are laying fiber as well. I am looking to get it sometime later this year.

**harrybarracuda** · 27-02-2015, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Basically, it's censorship with more taxes.

What a load of fucking rubbish.

The point was that the Government (read: Republican politicians being paid by the big telecoms companies) wanted to control the internet and be able to charge more for their services.

This has stopped them doing it.

You really are so thick Booners.

**harrybarracuda** · 27-02-2015, 03:05 PM

What they said:

But broadband provider Verizon said that the rules being adopted by the FCC were "written in the era of the steam locomotive and the telegraph".

"Today's decision by the FCC to encumber broadband internet services with badly antiquated regulations is a radical step that presages a time of uncertainty for consumers, innovators and investors," it said in a statement.

"History will judge today's actions as misguided".

Scott Belcher, chief executive of the Telecommunications Industry Association, said that the "onerous set of rules" was an "over-reaction from the FCC".

He predicted a two-pronged response from the broadband providers.

"They will take legal action right away and they will continue to work in Congress to get legislation to address these rules," he told the BBC.

What they meant:

But broadband provider Verizon said that the rules being adopted by the FCC were "bastard shite for us".

"Today's decision by the FCC to encumber broadband internet services with regulations on money grabbing is a radical step that presages a time of only making barely acceptable huge profits for us greedy bastards," it said in a statement.

"History will judge today's actions as brilliant for the consumer".

Scott Belcher, chief executive of the Telecommunications Industry Association, tearfully said that the "onerous set of rules" was an "excellent job from the FCC".

He predicted a two-pronged response from the broadband providers.

"They will take legal action right away and they will continue to pay off the GOP in Congress to get legislation to allow us to rip off the great unwashed even more," he told the BBC.

**bsnub** · 27-02-2015, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Basically, it's censorship with more taxes.

What a load of fucking rubbish.

The point was that the Government (read: Republican politicians being paid by the big telecoms companies) wanted to control the internet and be able to charge more for their services.

This has stopped them doing it.

You really are so thick Booners.

He is beyond thick he is a goddamned puppet.

**harrybarracuda** · 27-02-2015, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Basically, it's censorship with more taxes.

What a load of fucking rubbish.

The point was that the Government (read: Republican politicians being paid by the big telecoms companies) wanted to control the internet and be able to charge more for their services.

This has stopped them doing it.

You really are so thick Booners.

He is beyond thick he is a goddamned puppet.

Close

**baldrick** · 27-02-2015, 04:05 PM

you will see them regularly use the term "wireless internet" as they try and seperate it from wired and claim it should not be sbject to the same rules.

they don't want to have that cash cow slimmed

**BobR** · 27-02-2015, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Basically, it's censorship with more taxes.

What a load of fucking rubbish.

The point was that the Government (read: Republican politicians being paid by the big telecoms companies) wanted to control the internet and be able to charge more for their services.

This has stopped them doing it.

You really are so thick Booners.

Hope you're right, if so it will be one of the very few intelligent or decent things Obama and company have done.

**harrybarracuda** · 27-02-2015, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by BobR

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

More gubmint control and speeds as slow as the interweb in Europe.

Basically, it's censorship with more taxes.

What a load of fucking rubbish.

The point was that the Government (read: Republican politicians being paid by the big telecoms companies) wanted to control the internet and be able to charge more for their services.

This has stopped them doing it.

You really are so thick Booners.

Hope you're right, if so it will be one of the very few intelligent or decent things Obama and company have done.

I don't know how you can even say that when the Republicans have essentially blocked him at every turn.

It's a miracle he even got the ACA through.

**bsnub** · 27-02-2015, 05:11 PM

This was a monumental ruling and a great day for the average citizen. The next step needs to be even bigger and the fed needs to step in and break up the monopoly that comcast has created. Americans have to pay more for slower internet access then the rest of the world. Comcast is the Ma bell of the modern world and it is time to break that monopoly up.

Americans should have the ability to choose a ISP. Many are just stuck with comcast.

**FlyFree** · 27-02-2015, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by bsnub

Americans should have the ability to choose a ISP.

Should they? Look what happened last time they chose a president. They went and chose a black, muslim communist social worker with a dodgy birth certificate. They can't be trusted with choice, can they.

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