Posted on 03/13/2015 6:09:33 AM PDT by xzins
Two weeks after passage, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finally released its landmark “net neutrality” regulations Thursday morning.
Among its many determinations, the FCC stated that broadband providers do not enjoy First Amendment protections because they do not have a right to free speech.
“The rules we adopt today do not curtail broadband providers’ free speech rights,” the commission said on page 268 of its decision, noting that because they merely serve as a means for others to express themselves, broadband providers are not entitled to free speech rights themselves.
“When engaged in broadband Internet access services, broadband providers are not speakers, but rather serve as conduits for the speech of others," the FCC stated.
However, the point is a matter of contention because the decision also says that providers “shall not block lawful content, applications, [or] services.” (page 284).
The commissioners acknowledged that such a problem has not arisen to date, stating, “The record reflects that broadband providers exercise little control over the content which users access on the Internet.”
If broadband providers did exercise such control, the commission suggested, they may have some justification for seeking First Amendment protections.
“Claiming free speech protections under the First Amendment necessarily involves demonstrating status as a speaker,” the decision stated. “Absent speech, such rights do not attach.”
After finding that broadband providers themselves do not have a right to free speech, the FCC said that its new net neutrality rules protect the First Amendment rights of those who use the providers to access the Internet.
“Indeed, rather than burdening free speech, the rules we adopt today ensure that the Internet promotes speech by ensuring a level playing field for a wide variety of speakers who might otherwise be disadvantaged,” the decision continued.
Even if the ruling does constitute a potential violation of Internet providers’ First Amendment rights, a majority of the five commissioners said, there was a compelling governmental interest in doing so.
“Even if they were engaged in speech, the rules we adopt today are tailored to the important government interest in maintaining an open Internet as a platform for expression, among other things,” the decision concluded.
The regulations passed on a 3–2 vote on February 26, with the FCC’s three Democratic commissioners voting in favor of the new net neutrality rules and its two Republican commissioners voting against.
The rules must be approved by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) next, after which they will proceed to a period of congressional review before being published in the Federal Register.
After their publication, they are expected to face judicial scrutiny.
The FCC will have to go to court now. They stuck their foot in it. At home I have Verizon FIOS. So far I am doing fine.
Is this it?
3. Broadband Internet Access Service Is a Telecommu nications Service
355. We now turn to applying the statutory terms at issue in light of our updated understanding of how both fixed and mobile broadband Internet access services are offered. Three definitional terms are critical to a determination of the appropriate classification of broadband Internet access service.
First, the Act defines “telecommunications” as “the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received.” 966
Second, the Act defines “telecommunications service” as “the offering of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public, or to such classes of users as to be effectively available directly to the public, regardless of the facilities used.” 967
Finally, “information service” is defined in the Act as “the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications . . . , (the ellipses is not in the original) but does not include any use of any such capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications system or the management of a telecommunications service.” 968 We observe that the critical distinction between a telecommunications and an information service turns on what the provider is “offering.” If the offering meets the statutory definition of telecommunications service, then the service is also necessarily a common carrier service. 969
Snip...393. Contrary to these arguments, we find that revising the definition of “public switched network” and classifying mobile broadband Internet access service as a commercial mobile service is a logical outgrowth of the proposals in the 2014 Open Internet NPRM . 1122 As discussed above, in the NPRM , the Commiss ion proposed relying on s ection 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 for legal authority to adopt rules to protect the open Internet but indicated that it would also seriously consider the use of Title II of the Communications Act as a basis for legal authority. 1123
Here's a thought...
...what the FCC defines as a broadband provider.
If you don't like how it's defined...revise the definition. Oh, oh...I meant update the definition.
398. Today, we update the definition of “public switched network” to reflect current technology and conclude that mobile broadband Internet acc ess is an interconnected service.
Snip...399. T oday we update the definition of “ public switched network ” to reflect current mass market communications network technologies and configurations , and the rapidly growing and virtually universal use of mobile broadband service .
So the FCC is purveyor of Con Law?
"We ain't done yet either!" /sarcasm
That's something you don't see every day.
Aren’t broadband providers corporations and didn’t the supreme court rule that corporations have rights pertaining to free speech?
“...The commissioners acknowledged that such a problem has not arisen to date...”
The entirety of the Net Neutrality argument summed up nicely by the FCC
Well comrades, welcome to the machine.
APPENDIX A ends at page 290.
On pages 289/290...
§ 20.3 Definitions. Federal Communications Commission FCC 15 - 2 4 290
* * * * *
Commercial mobile radio service. * * *
* * * * *
(b) The functional equivalent of such a mobile service described in paragraph (a) of this section, including a mobile broadband Internet access service as defined in Section 8.2. (§ 8.2 Definitions. bottom of page 283)
* * * * *
Interconnected Service. A service:
(a) That is interconnected with the public switched network, or interconnected with the public switched network through an interconnected service provider, that gives subscribers the capability to communicate to or receive communication from other users on the public switched network; or
(b)* * *
* * * * *
Public Switched Network. The network that includes any common carrier switched network, whether by wire or radio, including local exchange carriers, interexchange carriers, and mobile service providers, that uses the North American Numbering Plan, or public IP addresses, in connection with the provision of switched services.
* * * * *
The words “broadband provider/s” comes up twice under search and not in any definitions sections at all.
That means the definition can be anything they want it to mean, and as your other posts have pointed out, these folks get to write, approve, update, and change their own stuff with no one having to approve it.
In a sense, a broadband provider could be a server, if one wanted to define it that way.
( b ) Edge provider .
Any individual or entity that p rovides any content, application, or service over the Internet, and any individual or entity that provides a device used for accessing any content, application, or service over the Internet.
( c ) End user .
Any individual or entity that uses a broadband Internet access service.
( d ) Fixed broadband Internet access service .
A broadband Internet access service that serves end users primarily at fixed endpoints using stationary equipment.
Fixed broadband Internet access service includes fixed wireless serv ices (including fixed unlicensed wireless services), and fixed satellite services.
( e ) Mobile broadband Internet access service . A broadband Internet access service that serves end users primarily using mobile stations.
( f ) Reasonable network management.
A network management practice is a practice that has a primarily technical network management justification, but does not include other business practices. A network management practice is reasonable if it is primarily used for and tailored to achieving a legitimate network management purpose, taking into account the particular network architecture and technology of the broadband Internet access service.
Am I correct?
logically speaking yes.
a broadband provider...provides Band...width.
logic isnt used that often in gubment bureaucracies so only time will tell how they reframe...EVERYTHING we let them get away with..
I’m led to the conclusion that “content” is the real concern.
US Supreme Court says otherwise. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 2010.
Yes, see my post above. Lefties don't want to "believe" that corporations are run and owned by people and citizens and therefore are accorded First Amendment rights.
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