The US Federal Communications Commission ( #FCC ) has re-instated its Net Neutrality #policy which was removed by Trump appointees. It's taken Biden this long to get a commissioner who supports it onto the FCC - his previous appointee was rejected by the Senate. This article explains what #netneutrality is and some of the hurdles yet to cross. https://www.pocket-lint.com/what-is-net-neutrality/
Today I found out my #SmartHome thermostat hasn't been working because of an ISP outage in the area. While I am all for #NetNeutrality, this one takes the cake for me; how can people be expected to have functioning smart houses if they keep prioritising internet leeches (such as "self-hosters") over actual customers, overloading their networks?
I'm on the phone with my provider right now, the waiting times might take a while, but this is something that's gotta be said.
“‘Without #NetNeutrality protections, tremendous power to those providers to alter or limit internet access,’ said [Eric Null ]. ‘This rule returns us to the common-sense regime in which users are in control of their online experience, without undue interference by their internet service providers.’” https://statescoop.com/fcc-restores-net-neutrality-rules-2024/
"Lobby groups representing cable, telecom, and mobile Internet service providers sued the #FCC in several US appeals courts last week. Industry groups also filed a petition with the FCC on Friday asking for a stay of the rules, claiming the regulations shouldn't take effect while litigation is pending because the industry is likely to prevail in court."
"If the industry loses at the appeals-court level again, lobby groups would seek review at the Supreme Court. Their hopes depend partly on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who argued in a 2017 dissent as a circuit court judge that the "net neutrality rule is unlawful and must be vacated" because "Congress did not clearly authorize the FCC to issue the net neutrality rule."
It’s worth noting that the FCC’s so-called “Open” Internet Advisory Committee (#OIAC) tragically gives two seats on the board to:
Cloudflare
Comcast
Both of whom are abusers of #netneutrality, especially Cloudflare. A well-informed Trump-free administration should be showing Cloudflare and Comcast the door ASAP.
Sure, Trump would just bring them back. But it’d at least be a good symbolic move.
Indeed, as someone else pointed out, the needed change should come from pro-netneutrality legislation. And the legislation needs to be broad enough to block Cloudflare’s broad discriminatory arbitrary attack on access equality, not just tinker with speeds at the ISP consumer level.
Net neutrality is back as FCC votes to regulate internet providers (www.cnn.com)