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In 2004, the court case [[USTA v. FCC]] voided the FCC's authority to enforce rules requiring telephone operators to [[Product bundling|unbundle]] certain parts of their networks at regulated prices. This caused the economic collapse of many [[competitive local exchange carrier|competitors in access services]].{{citation needed|date=February 2007}} |
In 2004, the court case [[USTA v. FCC]] voided the FCC's authority to enforce rules requiring telephone operators to [[Product bundling|unbundle]] certain parts of their networks at regulated prices. This caused the economic collapse of many [[competitive local exchange carrier|competitors in access services]].{{citation needed|date=February 2007}} |
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In the United States, [[broadband]] services were historically regulated differently according to the technology by which they were carried. While cable Internet has always been classified by the FCC as an [[information service]] free of most regulation, [[DSL]] was regulated as a [[telecommunications service]]. In 2005, the FCC reclassified internet access across the phone network, including [[DSL]], as "information service" relaxing the common carrier regulations and [[unbundling]] requirement to a voluntary set of four net neutrality principles.<ref name="Martin Principles">{{cite web|author=Federal Communications Commission|authorlink=Federal Communications Commission|title=New Principles Preserve and Promote the Open and Interconnected Nature of Public Internet|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-260435A1.pdf|date=2005-08-05|accessdate=2006-07-07|format=PDF}}</ref> Implementation of the principles was not mandatory; that would require an FCC rule or federal law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-151A1.pdf |title=Before the Federal Communications Commission |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |date= |accessdate=2014-01-14}}</ref> The modified principles were as follows:<ref>{{cite web |last=Isenberg |first=David |title=How Martin's FCC is different from Powell's |url=http://isen.com/blog/2005/08/how-martins-fcc-is-different-from.html |date=2005-08-07 |accessdate=2006-07-07}}</ref> |
In the United States, [[broadband]] services were historically regulated differently according to the technology by which they were carried. While cable Internet has always been classified by the FCC as an [[information service]] free of most regulation, [[DSL]] was regulated as a [[telecommunications service]]. In 2005, the FCC reclassified internet access across the phone network, including [[DSL]], as "information service" relaxing the common carrier regulations and [[unbundling]] requirement. |
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During the FCC's hearing, the [[National Cable & Telecommunications Association]] urged the FCC to adopt the four criteria laid out in its 2005 Internet Policy Statement as the requisite openness. This made up a voluntary set of four net neutrality principles.<ref name="Martin Principles">{{cite web|author=Federal Communications Commission|authorlink=Federal Communications Commission|title=New Principles Preserve and Promote the Open and Interconnected Nature of Public Internet|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-260435A1.pdf|date=2005-08-05|accessdate=2006-07-07|format=PDF}}</ref> Implementation of the principles was not mandatory; that would require an FCC rule or federal law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-151A1.pdf |title=Before the Federal Communications Commission |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |date= |accessdate=2014-01-14}}</ref> The modified principles were as follows:<ref>{{cite web |last=Isenberg |first=David |title=How Martin's FCC is different from Powell's |url=http://isen.com/blog/2005/08/how-martins-fcc-is-different-from.html |date=2005-08-07 |accessdate=2006-07-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-151A1.pdf |title=Policy statement |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |accessdate=26 August 2009}}</ref> |
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# Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice; |
# Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice; |
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These conditions were broadly similar to the FCC's Internet Policy Statement; FCC's applications and content were combined into a single bullet, and an extra bullet requiring wholesale access for third party providers was included. The FCC adopted only two of these four criteria for the auction, viz., open devices and open applications, and only applied these conditions to the nationwide C block portion of the band.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/07/fcc-sets-700mhz-auction-rules-limited-open-access-no-wholesale-requirement.ars|title=FCC sets 700 MHz auction rules: limited open access, no wholesale requirement|date=July 2007 |accessdate=26 August 2009}}</ref> |
These conditions were broadly similar to the FCC's Internet Policy Statement; FCC's applications and content were combined into a single bullet, and an extra bullet requiring wholesale access for third party providers was included. The FCC adopted only two of these four criteria for the auction, viz., open devices and open applications, and only applied these conditions to the nationwide C block portion of the band.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/07/fcc-sets-700mhz-auction-rules-limited-open-access-no-wholesale-requirement.ars|title=FCC sets 700 MHz auction rules: limited open access, no wholesale requirement|date=July 2007 |accessdate=26 August 2009}}</ref> |
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President [[Barack Obama]]'s [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009]] called for an investment of $7.2 billion in broadband infrastructure and included an openness stipulation. |
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===Expansion and legal overturn of 2005 rules=== |
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Towards the end of 2009, FCC Chair [[Julius Genachowski]] announced at the [[Brookings Institute]] a series of proposals that would prevent telecommunications, cable and wireless companies from blocking certain information on the Internet, for example, [[Skype]] applications.<ref>[http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7zvEbTdrfaVvQLIKpy5dy4bmufQD9ARO0AG1 ]{{dead link|date=January 2014}}</ref> |
Towards the end of 2009, FCC Chair [[Julius Genachowski]] announced at the [[Brookings Institute]] a series of proposals that would prevent telecommunications, cable and wireless companies from blocking certain information on the Internet, for example, [[Skype]] applications.<ref>[http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7zvEbTdrfaVvQLIKpy5dy4bmufQD9ARO0AG1 ]{{dead link|date=January 2014}}</ref> |
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In September 2009, FCC Chairman [[Julius Genachowski]] proposed to add two additional rules on top of its 2005 policy statement, viz., the nondiscrimination principle that ISPs must not discriminate against any content or applications, and the transparency principle, which requires that ISPs disclose all their policies to customers. He also argued that wireless should be subject to the same network neutrality as wireline providers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/fcc-chairman-wants-network-neutrality-wired-and-wireless.ars |title=FCC Chairman wants network neutrality, wired and wireless |author=Nate Anderson |date=21 September 2009 |accessdate=6 October 2009}}</ref> In October 2009, the FCC took the next step by approving a notice of proposed rule making on the subject of net neutrality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/102209-fcc-net-neutrality.html |title=FAQ: What's the FCC vote on net neutrality all about? |author=Tim Greene |date=22 October 2009}}</ref> On April 6, 2010, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]] in ''[[Comcast Corp. v. FCC]]'' ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to force Internet service providers to keep their networks open to all forms of content.<ref>{{cite news|author=Gross, Grant|title=Court rules against FCC's Comcast net neutrality decision|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/06/urnidgns852573c400693880852576fd0064cf-idUS44396209420100406 |date=6 April 2010|agency=Reuters|accessdate=15 March 2011}}</ref> |
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In December 2010, the FCC approved the [[FCC Open Internet Order 2010|FCC Open Internet Order]] banning [[cable television]] and [[telephone]] service providers from preventing access to competitors or certain web sites such as [[Netflix]]. On December 21, 2010, the FCC voted on and passed a set of 6 net "neutrality principles": |
In December 2010, the FCC approved the [[FCC Open Internet Order 2010|FCC Open Internet Order]] banning [[cable television]] and [[telephone]] service providers from preventing access to competitors or certain web sites such as [[Netflix]]. On December 21, 2010, the FCC voted on and passed a set of 6 net "neutrality principles": |
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Revision as of 03:49, 12 June 2014
Part of a series about |
Net neutrality |
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Topics and issues |
By country or region |
Net neutrality in the United States has been an issue of regulatory and judicial contention among network users and access providers.[1] There is some degree of net neutrality in the United States, meaning that telecommunications companies rarely offer different rates to broadband and dial-up Internet consumers based on Internet-based content or service type.[citation needed] There are no clear legal restrictions against practices impeding net neutrality. Broadband providers often block common service ports, such as port 25 (SMTP) or port 80 (HTTP), preventing consumers (and botnets) from hosting web and email servers unless they upgrade to a "business" account.[citation needed] Advocates of net neutrality have sought to restrict such changes.[2]
In 2005 and 2006, corporations supporting both sides of the issue spent large amounts of money lobbying Congress.[3] In 2006, representatives from several major U.S. corporations and the federal government publicly addressed U.S. Internet services in terms of the nature of free market forces, the public interest, the physical and software infrastructure of the Internet, and new high-bandwidth technologies.
Five attempts to pass bills in Congress containing some net neutrality provisions have been made and failed (see below). Each of them sought to prohibit Internet service providers from using various variable pricing models based upon the user's Quality of Service level. Described as tiered service in the industry and as price discrimination by some economists, typical provisions in the bill state "[Broadband service providers may] only prioritize...based on the type of content, applications, or services and the level of service purchased by the user, without charge for such prioritization".[4] Other provisions common to the net neutrality discussion were included in the proposed legislative works.
The debate started in the U.S. and has extended internationally with distinct differences of the debate in Europe [5] or Asia.[citation needed] The discussion is terrestrial-network centered, even though the Internet is inherently global and mobility is the fastest growing source of new demand.[citation needed]In practice, net neutrality is also influenced by state level politics.[6]
On April 23, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reported to be considering a new rule that will permit Internet service providers to offer content providers a faster track to send content, thus reversing their earlier net neutrality position.[7][8][9] A possible solution to net neutrality concerns may be municipal broadband, according to Dr. Susan Crawford, a legal and technology expert at Harvard Law School.[10] On May 15, 2014, the FCC decided to consider two options regarding internet services: first, permit fast and slow broadband lanes, thereby compromising net neutrality; and second, reclassify broadband as a telecommunication service, thereby preserving net neutrality.[11][12]
Regulatory history
Early history
While the term is new, the ideas underlying net neutrality have a long pedigree in telecommunications practice and regulation. The concept of network neutrality originated in the age of the telegram in 1860 or even earlier, where standard (pre-overnight telegram) telegrams were routed 'equally' without discerning their contents and adjusting for one application or another. Such networks are "end-to-end neutral".
Services such as telegrams and the phone network (officially, the public switched telephone network or PSTN) are considered common carriers under U.S. law, which means that they are akin to public utilities and expressly forbidden to give preferential treatment. They are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in order to ensure fair pricing and access.
The Internet became legally available for commercial use in the late 1980s. It was not until the late 1990s and early 2000s, that consumers and businesses began to attach new devices to their Internet connections, and use Internet services that were not in existence prior.
Arguments about the public interest requirements of the telecommunications industry in the U.S. arose in the 1980s; whether companies involved in broadcasting are best viewed as community trustees, with obligations to society and consumers, or mere market participants with obligations only to their shareholders.[13] The legal debate about net neutrality regulations of the 2000s echoes this debate.
In the 1990s, some U.S. politicians began to express concern over protecting the Internet:
How can government ensure that the nascent Internet will permit everyone to be able to compete with everyone else for the opportunity to provide any service to all willing customers? Next, how can we ensure that this new marketplace reaches the entire nation? And then how can we ensure that it fulfills the enormous promise of education, economic growth and job creation?
Cable modem Internet access and high-speed data links, which make up the Internet's core, had always been categorized under U.S. law as an information service, unlike Internet access by phone, and not as a telecommunications service, and thus have not been subject to common carrier regulations, as upheld in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X Internet Services.
In the early 2000s, legal scholars such as Tim Wu and Lawrence Lessig raised the issue of neutrality in a series of academic papers addressing regulatory frameworks for packet networks. Wu in particular noted that the Internet is structurally biased against voice and video applications.
FCC promotes freedom without regulation (2004)
In February 2004 then Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell announced a set of non-discrimination principles, which he called the principles of "Network Freedom." In a speech at the Silicon Flatirons Symposium, Powell encouraged ISPs to offer users these four freedoms:
- Freedom to access content.
- Freedom to run applications.
- Freedom to attach devices.
- Freedom to obtain service plan information.[15]
In early 2005, in the Madison River case, the FCC for the first time showed willingness to enforce its network neutrality principles by opening an investigation about Madison River Communications, a local telephone carrier that was blocking voice over IP service. Yet the FCC did not fine Madison River Communications. The investigation was closed before any formal factual or legal finding and there was a settlement in which the company agreed to stop discriminating against voice over IP traffic and to make a $15,000 payment to the US Treasury in exchange for the FCC dropping its inquiry.[16] Since the FCC did not formally establish that Madison River Communications violated laws and regulation, the Madison River settlement does not create a formal precedent. Nevertheless, the FCC's action established that it would not sit idly by if other US operators discriminated against voice over IP traffic.
CLEC, Dial-up, and DSL deregulation (2004-2005)
In 2004, the court case USTA v. FCC voided the FCC's authority to enforce rules requiring telephone operators to unbundle certain parts of their networks at regulated prices. This caused the economic collapse of many competitors in access services.[citation needed]
In the United States, broadband services were historically regulated differently according to the technology by which they were carried. While cable Internet has always been classified by the FCC as an information service free of most regulation, DSL was regulated as a telecommunications service. In 2005, the FCC reclassified internet access across the phone network, including DSL, as "information service" relaxing the common carrier regulations and unbundling requirement.
During the FCC's hearing, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association urged the FCC to adopt the four criteria laid out in its 2005 Internet Policy Statement as the requisite openness. This made up a voluntary set of four net neutrality principles.[17] Implementation of the principles was not mandatory; that would require an FCC rule or federal law.[18] The modified principles were as follows:[19][20]
- Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice;
- Consumers are entitled to run applications and services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement;
- Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network; and
- Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.
FCC tries and fails to punish Comcast for throttling BitTorrent (2007-2010)
In October 2007, Comcast was found to be blocking or severely delaying BitTorrent uploads on their network using a technique which involved creating 'reset' packets (TCP RST) that appeared to come from the other party.[21] On March 27, 2008, Comcast and BitTorrent reached an agreement to work together on network traffic.[22] Comcast will adopt a protocol-neutral stance "as soon as the end of [2008]", and explore ways to "more effectively manage traffic on its network at peak times." Comcast reached a proposed settlement in December 2009 of US$16 million, admitting no wrongdoing[23] and amounting to no more than US$ 16 dollars per share.[24]
In August 2008, the FCC made its first Internet network management decision.[25] It voted 3-to-2 to uphold a complaint against Comcast, the largest cable company in the US, ruling that it had illegally inhibited users of its high-speed Internet service from using file-sharing software because it throttled the bandwidth available to certain customers for video files to ensure that other customers had adequate bandwidth.[26][27] The FCC imposed no fine, but required Comcast to end such blocking in the year 2008, ordered Comcast to disclose the details of its network management practices within 30 days, submit a compliance plan for ending the offending practices by the end of the year, and disclose to the public the details of intended future practices. Then-FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin said the order was meant to set a precedent that Internet providers and all communications companies, could not prevent customers from using their networks the way they see fit unless there is a good reason. In an interview Martin stated that "We are preserving the open character of the Internet" and "We are saying that network operators can't block people from getting access to any content and any applications." The case highlighted whether new legislation is needed to force Internet providers to maintain network neutrality, i.e., treat all uses of their networks equally. The legal complaint against Comcast was related to BitTorrent, software that is commonly used for downloading movies, television shows, music and software on the Internet.[28]
As of April 2010, the FCC’s 2008 cease and desist order against Comcast due to its efforts to slow, and stop BitTorrent transfers has been denied. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC has no powers to regulate any Internet provider’s network, or the management of its practices: "[the FCC] ’has failed to tie its assertion’ of regulatory authority to an actual law enacted by Congress."[29]
In June 2010, the United States Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia in Comcast Corp. v. FCC overturned the FCC's Order against Comcast, ruling that the FCC lacked the authority, under the ancillary statutory authority of Title One of the Communications Act of 1934, to force Internet service providers to keep their networks open, while employing reasonable network management practices, to all forms of legal content.[30] The FCC had announced earlier it would continue its fight for net neutrality.[31]
FCC's conditions for 2008 spectrum auction
In February 2008, Kevin Martin, then Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said that he is "ready, willing and able," to prevent broadband Internet service providers from irrationally interfering with their subscribers' Internet access.[32]
In 2008, when the FCC auctioned off the 700 MHz block of wireless spectrum in anticipation of the DTV transition, Google promised to enter a bid of $4.6 billion, if the FCC required the winning licensee to adhere to four conditions:[33]
- Open applications: Consumers should be able to download and use any software application, content, or services they desire;
- Open devices: Consumers should be able to use a handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;
- Open services: Third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms;
- Open networks: Third parties, such as Internet service providers, should be able to interconnect at any technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee's wireless network.
These conditions were broadly similar to the FCC's Internet Policy Statement; FCC's applications and content were combined into a single bullet, and an extra bullet requiring wholesale access for third party providers was included. The FCC adopted only two of these four criteria for the auction, viz., open devices and open applications, and only applied these conditions to the nationwide C block portion of the band.[34]
President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 called for an investment of $7.2 billion in broadband infrastructure and included an openness stipulation.
Expansion and legal overturn of 2005 rules
Towards the end of 2009, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski announced at the Brookings Institute a series of proposals that would prevent telecommunications, cable and wireless companies from blocking certain information on the Internet, for example, Skype applications.[35]
In September 2009, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski proposed to add two additional rules on top of its 2005 policy statement, viz., the nondiscrimination principle that ISPs must not discriminate against any content or applications, and the transparency principle, which requires that ISPs disclose all their policies to customers. He also argued that wireless should be subject to the same network neutrality as wireline providers.[36] In October 2009, the FCC took the next step by approving a notice of proposed rule making on the subject of net neutrality.[37] On April 6, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Comcast Corp. v. FCC ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to force Internet service providers to keep their networks open to all forms of content.[38]
FCC Open Internet Order 2010
In December 2010, the FCC approved the FCC Open Internet Order banning cable television and telephone service providers from preventing access to competitors or certain web sites such as Netflix. On December 21, 2010, the FCC voted on and passed a set of 6 net "neutrality principles":
- Transparency: Consumers and innovators have a right to know the basic performance characteristics of their Internet access and how their network is being managed;
- No Blocking: This includes a right to send and receive lawful traffic, prohibits the blocking of lawful content, apps, services and the connection of non-harmful devices to the network;
- Level Playing Field: Consumers and innovators have a right to a level playing field. This means a ban on unreasonable content discrimination. There is no approval for so-called "pay for priority" arrangements involving fast lanes for some companies but not others;
- Network Management: This is an allowance for broadband providers to engage in reasonable network management. These rules don't forbid providers from offering subscribers tiers of services or charging based on bandwidth consumed;
- Mobile: The provisions adopted today do not apply as strongly to mobile devices, though some provisions do apply. Of those that do are the broadly applicable rules requiring transparency for mobile broadband providers and prohibiting them from blocking websites and certain competitive applications;
- Vigilance: The order creates an Open Internet Advisory Committee to assist the Commission in monitoring the state of Internet openness and the effects of the rules.[39]
The net neutrality rule did not keep ISPs from charging more for faster access. The measure was denounced by net neutrality advocates as a capitulation to telecommunication companies such as allowing them to discriminate on transmission speed for their profit, especially on mobile devices like the iPad, while pro-business advocates complained about any regulation of the internet at all. Republicans in Congress announced to reverse the rule through legislation.[40][41]
FCC's authority narrowed (2014)
On January 14, 2014, the DC Circuit Court determined in the case of Verizon Communications Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission[42] that the FCC has no authority to enforce Network Neutrality rules, since service providers are not identified as "common carriers".[43] The court agreed that FCC can regulate broadband and may craft more specific rules that stop short of identifying service providers as common carriers.[44] The likelihood of FCC regulating broadband under new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is low, as he has stated in the past that he is not opposed to consider ISPs who want to prioritize certain traffic.[45] On April 23, 2014, the FCC announced it would be proposing new rules, allowing ISP's to offer "faster lane" options at a premium rate to content providers.[7][8]
Alleged violations of net neutrality
Many broadband operators imposed various contractual limits on the activities of their subscribers. In the best known examples, Cox Cable disciplined users of virtual private networks (VPNs) and AT&T, as a cable operator, warned customers that using a Wi-Fi service for home-networking constituted "theft of service" and a federal crime.[46] Comcast blocked ports of VPNs, forcing the state of Washington, for example, to contract with telecommunications providers to ensure that its employees had access to unimpeded broadband for telecommuting applications. These early instances of "broadband discrimination" prompted both academic and government responses. Other broadband providers proposed to start charging service/content providers in return for higher levels of service (higher network priority, faster or more predictable), creating what is known as a tiered Internet. Packets originating from providers who pay the additional fees would in some fashion be given better than "neutral" handling, accelerated or more reliable handling of selected packets.[citation needed]
In April 2012, the CEO of Netflix criticized Comcast for not "following net neutrality principles". Netflix charged that Comcast was restricting access to popular online video sites, in order to promote Comcast's own Xfinity TV service. The criticism followed similar comments from Washington, D.C-based consumer group Free Press, which said that Comcast's policies gave "Comcast product an unfair advantage against other Internet video services".[47]
In September 2012, a group of public interest organizations such as Free Press, "Public Knowledge" and the "New American Foundation's Open Technology Institute" filed a complaint with the FCC that accuses AT&T of violating net-neutrality rules, by restricting use of the video- conferencing Apple application "FaceTime" to certain customers. The application which could be used over Wi-Fi signals can now be only used over cellular connection for customers who have a shared data plan on AT&T and excludes those with older unlimited or tiered data plans.[48]
Attempted legislation
Arguments associated with net neutrality regulations came into prominence in mid-2002, offered by the "High Tech Broadband Coalition", a group comprising the Business Software Alliance; the Consumer Electronics Association; the Information Technology Industry Council; the National Association of Manufacturers; the Semiconductor Industry Association; and the Telecommunications Industry Association, some of which were developers for Amazon.com, Google, and Microsoft. The full concept of "net neutrality" was developed by regulators and legal academics, most prominently law professors Tim Wu, Lawrence Lessig and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell often while speaking at the Annual Digital Broadband Migration conference or writing within the pages of the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law,[49] both of the University of Colorado School of Law.
By late 2005, net neutrality regulations were included in several Congressional draft bills, as a part of ongoing proposals to reform the Telecommunications Act of 1996} requiring Internet providers to allow consumers access to any application, content, or service. However, important exceptions have permitted providers to discriminate for security purposes, or to offer specialized services like "broadband video" service.[citation needed]
In April 2006, a large coalition of public interest, consumer rights and free speech advocacy groups and thousands of bloggers—such as Free Press, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, American Library Association, Christian Coalition of America, Consumers Union, Common Cause and MoveOn.org—launched the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, a broad-based initiative working to "ensure that Congress passes no telecommunications legislation without meaningful and enforceable network neutrality protections." Within two months of its establishment, it delivered over 1,000,000 signatures to Congress in favor of net neutrality policies and by the end of 2006, it had collected more than 1.5 million signatures.[citation needed]
The two proposed versions of "neutrality" legislation to date would prohibit: (1) the "tiering" of broadband through sale of voice- or video-oriented "Quality of Service" packages; and (2) content- or service-sensitive blocking or censorship on the part of broadband carriers. These bills have been sponsored by Representatives Markey, Sensenbrenner, et al., and Senators Snowe, Dorgan, and Wyden.
In 2006 Congressman Adam Schiff (D-California), one of the Democrats who voted for the 2006 Sensenbrenner-Conyers bill, said: "I think the bill is a blunt instrument, and yet I think it does send a message that it's important to attain jurisdiction for the Justice Department and for antitrust issues."[50] Net neutrality bills are referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, whose Committee Chair until 2014, Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) has expressed caution about introducing unnecessary legislation that could tamper with market forces.[citation needed]
The following legislative proposals have been introduced in Congress to address the net neutrality question:
Title | Bill number | Date introduced | Sponsors | Provisions | Status |
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109th Congress of the United States (January 2005 – January 2007) | |||||
Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006[51][52] | S. 2360 | March 2, 2006 | Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) |
|
Killed by the end of 109th Congress. |
Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Bill of 2006[54][55][56] | H.R. 5252 | March 30, 2006 | Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas and Chairman of the House Commerce Committee) |
|
Passed 321-101 by the full House of Representatives on June 8, 2006- but with the Network Neutrality provisions of the Markey Amendment removed. Bill killed by end of 109th Congress.[59] |
Network Neutrality Act of 2006[60] | H.R. 5273 | April 3, 2006 | Representative Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) |
|
Defeated 34-22 in committee with Republicans and some Democrats opposing, most Democrats supporting.[62] |
Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Bill of 2006[63] | S. 2686 | May 1, 2006 | Senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) & Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) | Aims to amend the Communications Act of 1934 and addresses net neutrality by directing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a study of abusive business practices predicted by the Save the Internet coalition and similar groups. | Sent to Senate in a 15-7 committee vote and defeated by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation on June 28, 2006. Killed by the end of 109th Congress. |
Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006[64] | H.R. 5417 | May 18, 2006 | Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) & John Conyers (D-Michigan) |
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Approved 20-13 by the House Judiciary committee on May 25, 2006. Killed by the end of 109th Congress. |
110th Congress of the United States (January 2007 – January 2009) | |||||
Internet Freedom Preservation Act (casually known as the Snowe-Dorgan bill)[66] | S. 215 (110th Congress) formerly S. 2917 (109th Congress) | January 9, 2007 | Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) & Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), Co-Sponsors: Barack Obama (D-Illinois), Hillary Clinton (D-New York), John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and other Senators |
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Read twice and referred to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. |
Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008[68] | H.R.5353 | February 12, 2008 | Representatives Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) & Charles Pickering (R-Mississippi) |
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Introduced to the House Energy and Commerce Committee |
111th Congress of the United States (January 2009 – January 2011) | |||||
Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009[70][71] | H.R.3458 | 2009 | - |
|
- |
112th Congress of the United States (January 2011 – January 2013) | |||||
Data Cap Integrity Act of 2012[74] | S. 3703 | December 20, 2012 | Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) | To improve the ability of consumers to control their digital data usage, promote Internet use, and for other purposes. | Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. |
(D) = a member of the House or Senate Democratic Caucus; (R) = a member of the House or Senate Republican Conference |
Positions
Support of net neutrality
Organizations that support net neutrality come from widely varied political backgrounds and include groups such as MoveOn.org, Free Press, Consumer Federation of America, AARP, American Library Association, Gun Owners of America, Public Knowledge, the Media Access Project, the Christian Coalition, and TechNet.[75][76][77] Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the World Wide Web) has also spoken out in favor of net neutrality.[78] On May 16, 2014, some websites are reported to have throttled FCC staffers to protest their position on net neutrality.[79]
Not all net neutrality proponents emphasize transparency to customers, and most proponents do not phrase net neutrality in terms of existing telecom carrier restrictions even when the desired state is equivalent.[citation needed] In many cases, a return to treating internet service links as telecommunication rather than information carrier services would re-invoke sufficient restrictions on discrimination and refusal to carry to satisfy most definitions of net neutrality and would return carriers to the conditions of limited liability that were in part breached by the 2005 FCC decision that DSL services are information services, and thus not subject to common carrier rules.[citation needed]
The FCC rules do not prevent telecommunications companies from charging fees to certain content providers in exchange for preferential treatment.(the so called "fast lanes") Neutrality advocates Tim Wu and Lawrence Lessig have argued that the FCC does have regulatory power over the matter, following from the must-carry precedent set in the Supreme Court case Turner Broadcasting v. Federal Communications Commission.[80]
Opposition to net neutrality
Opponents argue that (1) net neutrality regulations severely limit the Internet's usefulness; (2) net neutrality regulations threaten to set a precedent for even more intrusive regulation of the Internet; (3) imposing such regulation will chill investment in competitive networks (e.g., wireless broadband) and deny network providers the ability to differentiate their services; and (4) that network neutrality regulations confuse the unregulated Internet with the highly regulated telecom lines that it has shared with voice and cable customers for most of its history;[citation needed] (5) net neutrality would benefit industry lobbyists, and not consumers due to the potential of regulatory capture with policies that protect incumbent interests.[81]
Organizations opposing net neutrality are the free-market advocacy organizations FreedomWorks Foundation,[82]Americans for Prosperity and their website No Internet Takeover,[83] the National Black Chamber of Commerce, LULAC, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Progress and Freedom Foundation and high-tech trade groups, such as the National Association of Manufacturers.[citation needed] For example, former hedge fund manager turned journalist Andy Kessler has argued, the threat of eminent domain against the telecommunication providers, instead of new legislation, is the best approach by forcing competition and better services.[84] The Communications Workers of America, the largest union representing installers and maintainers of telecommunications infrastructure, opposes the regulations.
A number of net neutrality opponents have created a website called Hands Off The Internet[citation needed] to explain their arguments against net neutrality. Principal financial support for the website comes from AT&T, and members include technology firms such as Alcatel, 3M and pro-market advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste.[85][86][87][88] Corporate astroturfing is alleged.[85] For example, one print ad seems to frame the Hands Off the Internet message in pro-consumer terms. "Net neutrality means consumers will be stuck paying more for their Internet access to cover the big online companies' share," the ad claims.[89]
In November 2005 Edward Whitacre, Jr., then Chief Executive Officer of SBC Communications, stated "there's going to have to be some mechanism for these [Internet upstarts] who use these pipes to pay for the portion they're using", and that "The Internet can't be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment,"[90] sparking a furious debate. SBC spokesman Michael Balmoris said that Whitacre was misinterpreted and his comments only referred to new tiered services.[91]
Net neutrality laws are generally opposed by the cable television and telephone industries, and some network engineers and free-market scholars from the conservative to libertarian, including Christopher Yoo and Adam Thierer.[citation needed]
Only few U.S. technology trade associations and the U.S. financial sector were neutral as of 2006.[92][citation needed]
Opinions cautioning against legislation
In 2006 Bram Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent, said "I most definitely do not want the Internet to become like television where there's actual censorship... however it is very difficult to actually create network neutrality laws which don't result in an absurdity, like making it so that ISPs can't drop spam or stop... attacks."[93]
In June 2007, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urged restraint with respect to new regulations proposed by net neutrality advocates, noting the "broadband industry is a relatively young and evolving one," and given no "significant market failure or demonstrated consumer harm from conduct by broadband providers" such regulations "may well have adverse effects on consumer welfare, despite the good intentions of their proponents."[94] The FTC conclusions were questioned in Congress in September 2007, when Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate interstate commerce, trade and tourism subcommittee, told FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras that he feared new services as groundbreaking as Google could not get started in a system with price discrimination.[95]
In 2008 The Wall Street Journal argued: "Government’s...role here, properly understood, is not to tell Comcast how to manage its network. Rather, it is to make sure consumers have alternatives to Comcast if they are unhappy with their Internet service."[96] despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of residential consumers subscribe to Internet access service from 1 of only 2 wireline providers: the cable operator or the telephone company,[73] something cannot be changed by the FCC, (who had called the hearing) but could be changed by Congress with the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act, and/or with the promotion of municipal broadband.
In 2010 Adam Thierer, a George Mason University fellow opined that "any government agency or process big enough to control a major sector of our economy will be prone to influence by those most affected by it," and that consequently "for all the talk we hear about how the FCC's move to impose Net Neutrality regulation is about 'putting consumers first' or 'preserving Net freedom and openness,' it's difficult to ignore the small armies of special interests who stand ready to exploit this new regulatory regime the same way they did telecom and broadcast industry regulation during decades past."[81]
In 2011 Aparna Watal, a legal officer at an internet company named Attomic Labs, has put forward three points for resisting any urge "to react legislatively to the apparent regulatory crisis".[97] Firstly, "contrary to the general opinion, the Comcast decision does not uproot the Commission's authority to regulate ISPs. Section 201(b) of the Act, which was cited as an argument by the Commission but not addressed by the Court on procedural grounds, could grant the Commission authority to regulate broadband Internet services where they render “charges, practices and regulations for, and in connection with” common carrier services unjust and unreasonable."[97] Secondly, she suggests, it is "undesirable and premature to legislatively mandate network neutrality or for the Commission to adopt a paternalistic approach on the issue ... [as] there have been few overt incidents to date, and the costs of those incidents to consumers have been limited."[98] She cites "prompt media attention and public backlash" as effective policing tools to prevent ISPs from throttling traffic. She suggests that it "would be more prudent to consider introducing modest consumer protection rules, such as requiring ISPs to disclose their network management practices and to allow for consumers to switch ISPs inexpensively, rather than introducing network neutrality laws."[98] "While by regulating broadband services the commission is not directly regulating content and applications on the Internet", content will be affected by the reclassification. "The different layers of the Internet work in tandem with each other such that there is no possibility of throttling or improving one layer’s performance without impacting the other layers. ... To let the Commission regulate broadband pipelines connecting to the Internet and disregard that it indirectly involves regulating the data that runs through them will lead to a complex, overlapping, and fractured regulatory landscape in the years to come."[98]
Alternative FCC proposal 2010
An alternate position was proposed in 2010 by then-FCC Commissioner Julius Genachowski, which would narrowly reclassify internet access as a telecommunication service under Title Two of the Communications Act of 1934. It would apply only six [99] common carrier rules under the legal principle of forbearance that would sufficiently prevent unreasonable discrimination and mandate reasonable net neutrality policies under the concept of common carriage. Incumbent internet service provider AT&T opposed the idea saying that common carrier regulations would "cram today's broadband Internet access providers into an ill-fitting 20th century regulatory silo" while Google supported the FCC proposal "In particular, the Third Way will promote legal certainty and regulatory predictability to spur investment, ensure that the Commission can fulfill the tremendous promise of the National Broadband Plan, and make it possible for the Commission to protect and serve all broadband users, including through meaningful enforcement".[100]
Unlimited vs usage-based pricing
ISPs had offered unlimited data transfer at a specified maximum download/upload speed at a monthly rate. This pricing model helped ISPs to capture market share and quickly grow demand for high-speed internet access during the 1990s. Content providers or businesses could also purchase unlimited data transfer at a flat-rate, a practice that has become an industry standard.[citation needed]
Some ISPs like AT&T and Verizon have argued that providing varying levels of service to websites at various prices could be a way to manage the costs of unused capacity. It will allow selling surplus bandwidth (or "leverage price discrimination to recoup costs of 'consumer surplus'") by moving them to the content providers. However, purchasers of connectivity on the basis of Committed Information Rate or guaranteed bandwidth capacity must expect the capacity they purchase in order to meet their communications requirements.[citation needed]. This would effectively create a 'tiered' internet that will violate some conceptions of net neutrality.
Other ISPs are trying to move to usage-based pricing models. Time Warner Cable, attempted to introduce "consumption based billing" with caps on internet usage much like the model used in the mobile phone industry. They offered packages of 10GB, 20GB, 40GB, and 60GB with $1 overage charges capped at $75 a month. It was met with massive public disapproval and on April 16, 2009, Time Warner was forced to abandon their plan.
The industry is currently looking for alternative pricing models that will be accepted by the market.
State regulations
In the United States, as of 2012 only New York has established net neutrality as a telecommunications standard (See 16 NYCRR Part 605).[citation needed]
Legal definition in AT&T/Bell South merger
The AT&T/Bell South merger agreement defines net neutrality as an agreement on the part of the broadband provider: "not to provide or to sell to Internet content, application or service providers ... any service that privileges, degrades or prioritizes any (data) packet transmitted over AT&T/BellSouth's wireline broadband Internet access service based on its source, ownership or destination."[101]
Unresolved issues
The Internet is a highly federated environment composed of thousands of carriers, many millions of content providers and more than a billion end users - consumers and businesses. Prioritizing packets is complicated even if both the content originator and the content consumer use the same carrier.[citation needed] It is much less reliable if the packets have to traverse multiple carrier networks, because the packet getting "premium" service while traversing network A may drop down to non-premium service levels in network B.[citation needed]
The debate over "neutrality" does not yet capture some dimensions of the topic; for example, if voice packets should get higher priority than packets carrying email or if emergency services, mission-critical, or life-saving applications, such as tele-medicine, should get priority over spam.[102]
Alternatives to cable and DSL
Much of the push for network neutrality rules comes from the lack of competition in broadband services. For that reason, municipal wireless and other wireless service providers are highly relevant to the debate. If successful, such services would provide a third type of broadband access with the potential to change the competitive landscape. For similar reasons, the feasibility of broadband over powerline services is also important to the network neutrality issue. However, as of spring of 2006, deployments beyond cable and DSL service have created little new competition.[citation needed]
Cable companies, in response have lobbied Congress for a federal preemption to ban states and municipalities from competing and thereby interfering with interstate commerce. However, there is current Supreme Court precedent for an exception to the Commerce Power of Congress for states as states going into business for their citizens.
It has been argued, that neither municipal wireless nor other technological solutions such as encryption, onion routing, or time-shifting DVR would be sufficient to render possible discrimination moot.[103]
3GPP cellular networks provide a practical broadband alternative known as EVDO, which, along with WiMax, represents a fourth and fifth alternative. The latter has been deployed in limited areas, but 3GPP in much wider ones.
See also
References
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- ^ Videos from the Digital Broadband Migration conference and papers from the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law about Net Neutrality law are collected at http://neutralitylaw.com
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{{cite web}}
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Further reading
- Timothy B. Lee (May 2, 2014). "Beyond net neutrality: the new battle for the future of the internet". Vox.com. Washington, DC: Vox Media.
External links
- Save The Internet!
- Federal Communication Commission:"OpenInternet" website
- Internet Policy: Who's Pulling the Strings against network neutrality in the United States
- A video on net neutrality
- Australian ISPs say net neutrality is an American problem
- Media Capitalism, the State and 21st Century Media Democracy Struggles - An interview with Robert McChesney
- Verizon & Google Enter Reported Deal for Tiered Internet Use, Is Net Neutrality in Jeopardy? – video report by Democracy Now!
- NNSquad The Network Neutrality Squad, an open-membership, open-source effort, enlisting the Internet's users to help keep the Internet's operations fair and unhindered from unreasonable restrictions
- Abandoning "Net Neutrality," FCC Chair Backs Two-Tiered Internet Fees – video report by Democracy Now!