“The head of the US Federal Communications Commission proposed new rules Monday that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all Web traffic equally,” AFP reports. “The FCC chairman proposed adding two new principles to those which currently guide the regulatory body’s approach to maintaining an open Internet.”
“He said the FCC needed to play a role in ensuring ‘net neutrality’ — the principle that ISPs provide the same speed of service to all users of the Web, from the smallest website to the largest Internet portal,” AFP reports. “The new rules would prevent ISPs, for example, from blocking or slowing bandwidth-hogging Web traffic such as streaming video or other applications that put a strain on their networks or from charging different rates to users.”
“He said the first would prevent broadband providers from discriminating against particular Web content or applications while allowing for ‘reasonable’ network management,” AFP reports. “The second principle would ensure that ISPs be transparent about the network management practices they implement, he said.”
AFP reports, “Genachowski said the new rules would be subject to debate and announced that the FCC had launched a new website, www.openinternet.gov, to encourage public participation in the process.”
Direct link via YouTube here.
Full article here.
“The new rules would prevent ISPs, for example, from blocking or slowing bandwidth-hogging Web traffic such as streaming video or other applications that put a strain on their networks or from charging different rates to users.”
Welcome to Communism. Where no matter how much of a service you use, even at the detriment of others, the government dictates how much you can charge. So much for the efficiency of free markets then…
*NOBAMA*
Oops, I meant the goverment dictates how much the “company” charges. Only one step from the government taking over…
Drop Dead, Capitalist.
@His Shadow
Stop name calling. Prove your point.
The movement for Net Neutrality was started before Obama even started running for president, but thanks for playing. Oh, and Welcome to Reality, where checking the facts before leaping to magnificent conclusions that adhere to your fantasy government schemes are crucial to not appearing foolhardy online.
Obamamamamamamamama will have us all dressing in the same uniforms soon. That is, all except his mightiness and his czars. They’ll look like his friend Khadafi.
Born in the USSA.
I can see both sides of this issue. Providers should be able to hold back the road hogs who are making life difficult for others. But they shouldn’t be able to target programs when they are being used in a responsible manner, just because some people are road hogs.
“The new rules would prevent ISPs, for example, from blocking or slowing bandwidth-hogging Web traffic such as streaming video or other applications that put a strain on their networks or from charging different rates to users.”
This might be . . . a problem.
How did the FCC get any authority over the Internet.
@His Shadow
Thanks for the constructive comment, as Think rightly said, you could have at least argued a point.
@No Alabama, Either
I’m against over bearing government control and especially the dictation of wages or prices to private firms. It’s what makes America great. It’s federal organisations such as the FCC that stand in the way of a truly free and efficient United States.
I put *NOBAMA* at the bottom as my signature. But nonetheless I think it’s relevant for this article as this is exactly the kind of policy a socialist would agree with.
Gos bless the USA.
Suck this comcast!!
Get you filthy government hands off my Medicare! No regulation of markets ever, and because corporations are the same as people; no law! Don’t impinge on my rights! If I can’t rape whoever I want, it’s not a free country anymore! We’ll all be safer once we’ve all been shot a couple times!
SOON YOU WILL ALL WEAR THE UNIFORM OF OUR BLACK NATIONALIST NAZI SOCIALIST OVERLORD, THE KENYAN KONQUISTADOR, THE ABSOLUTE ABORTIONIST, THE MASTER OF MARKET MANIPULATION AND MINDCONTROL MAYHEM;
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMASAMA!
HIS UNIFORM SHALL BE MAE WEST DRAG AND HIS SALUTE SHALL BE AN EXTENDED PINKY FINGER! HE WILL EXECUTE YOUR DOGS AND EVERYONE WHO’S A SECOND COUSIN TO ANYONE ELSE! TOMORROW ALL YOUR CHILDREN MUST BE DELIVERED TO GOVERNMENT CHARNEL HOUSES, NEWLY CONSTRUCTED BY AN ARMY OF CAESAR CHAVEZ CLONES, WHERE THEY WILL BE INDOCTRINATED WITH WOODY GUTHRIE SONGS AND TAUGHT TO BRING ALL YOUR GUNS TO OUR DISPOSAL SITES FOR MELTING INTO PAPERCLIPS THAT WILL FEED THE NEEDS OF THE BUREAUCRATIC PAPERWORK GENERATOR.
SUMBIT NOW. SUBMIT.
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
So much for the efficiency of free markets then…
So much for them, right you are. We need to enact a modern version of the Glass-Steagall Act that addresses today’s financial instruments.
It seems like these new rules could be an incentive for carriers to upgrade their bandwidth, that people can rent at premium rates, in order to deal with net neutrality. Fast lines would be the point of competition.
Without these rules, net speed could stagnate while ISPs spent their energies monetizing through rationing what is in place.
What kind of signature is NOBAMA? Is it a first name? Last name? Some place? I am quite curious.
As for the subject at hand, the first poster sounds quite a little paranoid, since none of the things he’s talking about can be found in the FCC proposal.
Nobody is attempting to regulate how much ISPs can charge for their service. If they choose to offer unlimited traffic at certain bandwidth (say, Verizon FiOS for 25Mbps down/5Mbps up) for a certain price, the customer should have a reasonable expectation that he can use that bandwidth the way he feels fit. The terms and conditions should be clearly defined, as they are right now. The ISPs are trying to transform the rules, so that they can prioritise traffic across their pipes, so that the entities who pay more (much more) get priority (say, doubleclick.net, or Verizon’s own offerings) over any competitors’ offerings. In other words, rather than competing on the merits of the offerings themselves, they will artificially slow down competitor’s traffic. This is what the proposal is supposed to prevent.
A perfect example would be VoIP. There are plenty of independent VoIP providers out there. ISPs all have their own competing offerings. They can easily prioritise traffic to their customers in such a way to make the competing VoIP services unreliable enough, so that their customers switch to their own offerings.
In a hypothetical situation, if you own an airport, and also own an airline, you cannot force your air traffic controllers to deliberately slow down other aircraft, so that yours get through first.
The FCC proposal is quite reasonable. It is requesting public debate, it is asking for complete transparency and seems like the proper way to address this issue.
This is just another ploy by the Feds to expand big government, pad their pocketbooks and job security, and grab more and more power over mine and your lives. This would force the ISP’s to pass along the added expense to all their customers. That means the guys now willing to pay extra for higher speeds will be paying for those who aren’t willing to pay for the higher speeds. Sounds like socialism to me! These days I don’t even recognize this country I thought was America. So so sad.
Wing-nuts abound in MDN.
His Shadow and Island Girl are proven commies. They are little maobama puppet-drones. Guess what commies, we will vote you out.
That this is clear: this is another Equality of Opportunity act, which on its face is not only offensively illogical to people with higher brain power than a slug (excluding congress completely here) but is also a very tell tale sign of socialism. It never worked, look it up, do your homework.
And really, where was I when Bush blablabla? USC 18 Sec 2257, invasion of privacy buried in patriot act… W did damage this country as well, so there.
No excuse for ANYONE, <u>not for those playing for your team or for my team.</u>
This non-sense has to be stopped once and for all. F*#$ing stupid pencilpusher, bureaucrat trying to uck everything fup! grrr
__________
And this from the crowd that reverse Apple’s 1984 commercial.
You neo-conservatives out there most definitely would not be interested to know that this president has been the most pro business and pro-capitalist since Clinton. As a matter of fact most Democratic presidents have been better stewards of capitalism than their Republican counterparts since Eisenhower. But your little minds a too small to comprehend that concept. The enforcing of net neutrality forces local pipe owners to invest in their infrastructure to cope with increased traffic rather than throttling it. I cite the entrance of Verizon into marketplaces traditionally held by Time Warner Cable and Cablevision. Before Verizon came along these local cable companies had no incentive improve their offerings to the public and chose to just charge their customers more. Now they have bundled packages and improved offerings and HD offerings are improving continuously. Most of you would do well to think before you click.
I, for you, think this is a great thing.
The ISP’s where starting to attempt to making exclusive “content” deals (ATT / ESPN). Wanting to make companies like Google pay twice for connecting to their pipes. And the overall douche-baggery of throttling certain connection speeds while making sure their “services” where not (ComCast)
So unless you have some specific reasons why this is bad, I’m going to continue to think that this is a great thing. And the people your are complaining about it are paid shills for the ISP’s.
@ Patriot:
If that sounds like socialism to you, you need to get a dictionary. As do the rest of your ‘winger brethren.
There’s enough actually corruption and cronyism to tackle- we might be able to do something about it if 1/4 of the population weren’t too busy chasing fictional birth certificates and hypothetical salvation.
anaknipedro writes: “How did the FCC get any authority over the Internet.” [sic]
Somebody apparently told them that all those bits flowing through the connected tubes was a form of communication.
“to encourage public participation in the process”
Right, just like the Town Hall meetings where all the nut job “patriots” screamed and shouted Glenn Beck’s nonsense.
This is like sticking your pinky in a Koi pond. The stupid fish will just bite, bite, bite and don’t eve realize its futile. Sad to see so many Mac users are just as brainless as a fish.