Telephone Cable companies seek special fees for prioritized delivery
AUSTIN Texas (Texas Insider Report) Advocacy groups most tech companies and online privacy supporters are in agreement that
an open free and competitive Internet is in everyones best interest
that it is vitally important to achieve the benefit provided by the Internet as a whole. There is however
disagreement as to how best to achieve these goals.
The proposed Open Internet Rules that are currently being considered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) propose that ISPs be good" with rules against blocking and discrimination limiting priority interconnection deals to a commercially reasonable" standard and allowing extra cost access tolls for fast lanes.
This might make Netflix stream a littler faster but it wont get to the heart of preserving.
For example the proposal does nothing to: prevent ISPs from blocking encryption technologies prevent them from snooping user Internet traffic and serving up ads and it will not improve customer service from broadband providers.
The Net Neutrality" debate presents a situation that could eviscerate Internet users privacy rights. For this reason Data Foundry opposes the broadband management proposals of the Internet access providers and the non-discrimination" rule presented by advocates of Net Neutrality."
Some proposed discrimination" rules actually require discrimination and they are decidedly not neutral." Its anticompetitive discrimination thats a big problem.
- We believe an open and free Internet means all traffic should be treated equally by the Internet access provider unless the user has expressly communicated a desire for priority treatment.
- We strongly disagree that telephone companies and cable companies should be able to charge special fees for prioritized" delivery.
- And we certainly disagree that they should be allowed to make you waive all privacy and effectively ban encryption so they can inspect your traffic which is the only way they can implement their scheme.
Data Foundry believes that the FCC should segregate the presently non-competitive transmission portion of Internet connectivity from other aspects of the Internet as a whole. The FCC would then have the authority to impose reasonable regulations on the
transmission portion.
This would allow the FCC to focus its open Internet efforts on the portion that is not competitive while allowing the portions of the market that are sufficiently competitive to remain free from regulation and open to innovation.
We strongly believe the most effective way for the Commission to protect and promote the open Internet is to implement open access by reclassifying the broadband transmission component as a Title II telecommunications service.
The Internet does not need to be overhauled overly regulated or fixed. Its not broken but we need to fight to keep it that way.
We are proud to have represented those that fight for an Open Internet at
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pais October 21st open forum at Texas A&M University in College Station.
This is a chance for Texans to show key decision makers that
we support real Open Networks.
Commissioners rarely leave Washington D.C. to meet with the public and as of now this event is
the only one of its kind on the calendar. It will be the first hearing held outside of Washington during the FCCs deliberations that will feature panelists with
a diverse range of views on how the agency should proceed.
We hope youll join us in the fight.
To watch the panel discussion in its entirety Click here to view the event. To learn more about the Forum on Internet Regulation lead by Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Ajit Pai (right) in College Station Texas on October 21 2014 hosted by Texas A&M Universitys Bush School of Government & Public Service CLICK HERE.
