Free Republic

The FCC voted today on a plan that gives the Federal government full control over the Internet. The plan passed by a 3-2 margin. A press release posted immediately after the meeting stated, in part, “Under the new rules, the Commission can investigate possible instances of discrimination of broadband access, work with companies to solve problems, facilitate mediation, and, when necessary, penalize companies for violating the rules. The FCC will review consumer complaints of digital discrimination of access through an improved consumer complaint portal and staff will meet monthly to assess trends in complaint patterns. Finally, the Commission adopted model...

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr is calling the Biden administration's "digital equity" plan for all internet services and infrastructure an "unlawful power grab." Biden’s plan hands the Administrative State effective control of all Internet services and infrastructure in the country. Never before, in the roughly 40-year history of the public Internet, has the FCC (or any federal agency for that matter) claimed this degree of control over it. Indeed, Biden’s plan calls for the FCC to apply a far-reaching set of government controls that the agency has not applied to any technology in the modern era, including Title II...

It’s been six years since internet service providers were granted a boon allowing them to push and pull the levers of internet speeds for any website that may not want to pay a ransom. The end to limitations of what is called net neutrality has tugged at the heartstrings of many internet advocates According to unnamed sources who spoke to Bloomberg, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is just about ready to announce plans to bring back net neutrality rules. It comes just a few weeks after Congress finally approved new commissioner Anna Gomez, allowing for a 3-2 Democrat majority on...

Susan Crawford, the retired judge in charge of determining which Guantanamo detainees should be tried by a U.S. military commision, has refused to refer the case of Mohammed al-Qahtani to prosecutors because of that assessment, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. "We tortured (Mohammed al-) Qahtani," Crawford told the Post. "His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case" for prosecution. Military prosecutors have accused al-Qahtani of helping to plan the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, and believe he may have sought to participate, possibly as the "20th hijacker." The United States had...

In a major victory for free speech in America, controversial Biden nominee Gigi Sohn has withdrawn her nomination to the FCC. Sohn was at the center of a firestorm that had lasted for nearly a year and a half. Her nomination initially failed during the less US Senate term because she was such a terrible candidate for the job. The White House then inexplicably renominated her in January of 2023, believing that the new one-seat larger Democrat majority would force her through. The Washington Post broke the news, though they did their best to present Sohn as a victim of...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a total of 22 million comments regarding the 2017 effort to repeal net neutrality during former President Donald Trump’s administration, of which the majority were fake. A multi-year investigation found that fake comments accounted for nearly 18 million of the 22 million comments the FCC received during its 2017 rulemaking, the New York State Office of the Attorney General Letitia James found in a newly released report. This type of fraud has had a major impact on our democracy since “Federal and state agencies rely on public comments to set standards that govern many...

Tech moguls who made their fortunes from Facebook, Twitter and Netflix have donated at least $7.5 million to groups tied to BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who has in turn publicly backed their policy goals, according to a new report. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and Patricia Ann Quillin, the wife of Netflix's billionaire CEO, all gave generously to Cullors' PAC and associated charities, according to the New York Post. Cullors for her part has strongly advocated for 'net neutrality', a policy that financially benefits online content providers such as Netflix and social media sites.

The federal Veterans Administration (VA) leadership had negotiated free data (not counted against anyone’s wireless data cap) with all major providers for an app called VA Video Connection. This allows veterans nationwide to access telemedicine for appointments, counseling, and other critical services digitally, even when they have lower cost plans with limited data levels. This app is very data intensive, as most high-end streaming video conferencing programs are. The service would be way outside the cost capability of many lower income vets without the deal made by the VA. Sadly, under a new law, passed in 2018, but put into...

Get ready for Biden's assault on the First Amendment. The Verge reports that Markey is now on a track to introduce new legislation that would re-implement net neutrality that “would engrave the no throttling, block, or paid fast lanes rules into law.” Should Markey’s new bill fail, his plan B is to stack the FCC with enough Democrats to take matters into their own hands. He explained to The Verge that “Once we have three Democrats in place at the Federal Communications Commission, I will strongly urge it to reverse the Trump FCC wrongheaded decision and restore net neutrality and...

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai said he plans to leave the commission on Jan. 20, 2021. This opens the door to President-elect Joe Biden to select a new head of the telecommunications regulator. While best known for wrecking network neutrality, in his resignation letter Pai largely ignored that issue. His only comment relating to it was "this FCC has not shied away from making tough choices. As a result, our nation's communications networks are now faster, stronger, and more widely deployed than ever before." Few would agree with his rosy view. While according to the FCC's 2020 Broadband...

Back in 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIFO) which provided “a framework for protecting an open internet while paving the way for better, faster, and cheaper internet access for all consumers.” Shortly after the proposals were approved, CNN famously proclaimed the decision was the “end of the internet as we know it.” John Oliver’s segment on Last Week Tonight covering RIFO led 150,000 Americans to file comments opposing the new rules. The previous rules, which were imposed just two years before, required internet services to be treated in the same regulatory manner as a 1930s-style...

The European Union’s highest court has given its support to the bloc’s rules that stop internet providers from charging customers for preferential access to their networks. […] The rules require telecommunications providers to treat all data traffic the same, and prevent them from reserving better access for their own services, or selling bandwidth to big companies like Google and Netflix while leaving a slower Internet for everyone else. The Luxembourg-based court backed the principle of an open internet after Hungarian wireless carrier Telenor Magyarorszag had sought an interpretation of the rules. Hungarian regulators had stopped the company from offering two...

Welcome to a world without net neutrality HBO Max, AT&T’s big bet on the future of streaming, will be excused from AT&T’s mobile data caps, while competing services like Netflix and Disney Plus will use up your data. That’s the follow-up from a Vergecast conversation with Tony Goncalves, the AT&T executive in charge of HBO Max. Asked whether HBO Max would hit the cap, Goncalves said his team “had the conversation” but didn’t have the answer. AT&T later confirmed to The Verge that HBO Max will be excused from the company’s traditional data caps and the soft data caps on...

European government and regulatory bodies have authorized the European Union’s telecom operators and internet service providers to apply exceptional measures, including the throttling of online speeds, to prevent network congestion amid increased demand as millions of Europeans are forced to stay home and use online collaboration and teleworking tools amid the coronavirus. The EU’s governing body, the European Commission, and the Body of the European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) gave the greenlight to telcos to take the necessary measures to ensure there is no disruption in online traffic. The move comes after Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for internal...

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied multiple appeals to rehear a decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) repeal of the Obama-era net neutrality rules. The 2015 net neutrality rules classified internet service providers as common carriers, similar to telecommunications providers, who are not allowed to discriminate against various forms of traffic. The FCC under Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai repealed those rules in late 2017 and also barred states from passing their own net neutrality regulations. Pai's action faced legal challenges but was upheld by a district court and then by the D.C. Circuit in October. The...

Today marks two years since the Federal Communication Commission's historic vote to roll back the Obama-era internet regulations misleadingly known as “net neutrality.” As we hit this anniversary, it’s important to remember the apocalyptic predictions Democratic politicians and special interest groups made — and how their warnings never came to fruition. First, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. In 2010, the Obama-era FCC applied net neutrality to internet service providers across the country. For the 20 years of commercial internet history up until that point, almost every major provider had offered open access to the internet without throttling....

As far-left Democrats yell about bribery and high crimes and misdemeanors, let's turn to their own side of the aisle, starting with the once-penniless President Obama who left public office a very, very rich man. He just bought a Martha's Vineyard mansion for a cool $11.75 million, which is in addition to his Kalorama lookout post, his Chicago home, and possibly a Hawaii spread. At some point you've made enough...but not him. Ostensibly, it's mainly the work of his book deals. No bribery there, right? Well, ahem ... Obama gave Pearson Publishing $350 million to create Commoncore text and Pearson...

A federal appeals court on Tuesday delivered a mixed ruling for net neutrality supporters and opponents alike, allowing the Federal Communications Commission's 2017 repeal to stand but striking down a provision blocking states from implementing their own open internet rules. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals also ordered the FCC to revise the repeal order to take into consideration other issues, like the effect that it will have on public safety. The FCC decided to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules in 2017 with the Republicans on the commission carrying the 3-2 vote along party lines. The rules classified internet...

A coalition of progressive groups is asking 2020 Democratic candidates to pledge to restore the Obama-era net neutrality rules repealed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during the Trump administration. SNIP “The FCC’s net neutrality repeal ignored the voices of millions from across the political spectrum, in what ended up being one of the biggest and most undemocratic giveaways to the telecom industry we’ve ever seen,” Mark Stanley, a spokesman for the group Demand Progress, said in a statement. “For too long, phone and cable companies have exerted in an undue influence in Washington, by pushing unpopular policies that harm...

President Donald Trump promised he’d get rid of bad rules. “Remove the anchor dragging us down!” he said when campaigning for president. “We’re going to cancel every needless job-killing regulation!” Trump was a developer, so he knew that the thicket of rules government imposes often makes it impossible to get things done. But would he keep his deregulation promise? I was skeptical. Republicans often talk deregulation but then add rules. People called President George W. Bush an “anti-regulator.” But once he was president, he hired 90,000 new regulators! Trump has been different. When he took office, he hired regulation skeptics....