Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


0

FCC Ready to Defend Net Neutrality

Agency says it will step in to stop ISPs from blocking access

Share

(Newser) – FCC boss Kevin Martin told a hearing yesterday that the government was "ready, willing, and able to step in" to stop Internet service providers from restricting traffic sent by rivals, the Wall Street Journal reports. Comcast is accused of acting improperly by slowing or blocking access to file-sharing sites. The cable giant says it is merely managing its network.

The FCC has shied away from getting involved in regulating ISPs, but the agency is now considering ways of enforcing its "net neutrality" principles to ensure that everybody gets equal access and that competition stays fair. "Comcast not only owns a horse in this race, but they also own the only racetrack in town," said the chief of an online video firm.

Federal Communication Commission chairman Kevin J. Martin, center, and commissioner Michael J. Copps, left, listen to testimony as commissioner Robert McDowell, right, takes notes during a hearing in the Ames Courtroom at the Harvard University Law School in Cambridge, Mass., Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
Federal Communication Commission chairman Kevin J. Martin, center, and commissioner Michael J. Copps, left, listen to testimony as commissioner Robert McDowell, right, takes notes during a hearing in...   (Associated Press)
Gilles Bian Rose, CEO of Vuze, Inc., looks over the top of his laptop computer as he executes a technology demonstration for commissioners during a Federal Communication Commission hearing in the Ames Courtroom at the Harvard University Law School in Cambridge, Mass., Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
Gilles Bian Rose, CEO of Vuze, Inc., looks over the top of his laptop computer as he executes a technology demonstration for commissioners during a Federal Communication Commission hearing in the Ames...   (Associated Press)
A Harvard University police officer stands on the steps leading to the Ames Courtroom after it was closed because of overcrowding during a Federal Communication Commission hearing at the Harvard University Law School in Cambridge, Mass., Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. People wishing to attend the hearing congregate at the bottom...
A Harvard University police officer stands on the steps leading to the Ames Courtroom after it was closed because of overcrowding during a Federal Communication Commission hearing at the Harvard University...   (Associated Press)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.6.09
Galleon Scandal: Shocked, Shocked by Insider Trading
11.5.09
Rupert Murdoch Is Mad but Cute
0 comments
VIEWING:
 
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

23 Stories

We Might Need Google Neutrality, Too

Net Neutrality isn't a cure-all; the internet is full of choke points

Oct 29, 09 12:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - Net neutrality is back in the headlines, but it might not be as important as its champions might hope. Essentially, the net neutrality fight is over price discrimination—the ISPs want to charge extra fees to big companies that could afford to pay them, explains Ars Technica . Companies of all... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Google • Internet • net neutrality • search • ISP

Obama's FCC Pick Brings Reformer Label

Tech adviser Genachowski lauded to lead troubled agency

Mar 4, 09 1:37 PM CST
(Newser) - President Obama has officially named Harvard pal and technical adviser Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission, NPR reports. It’s Genachowski’s second tour—he worked at the FCC during the Clinton administration—and he’s being applauded on both sides of the aisle. Most are hoping the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • FCC • net neutrality • Kevin Martin • Obama administration • Julius Genachowski


 Gadgets Have 
 Consumers 
 Crying for Help 

Buyers frustrated by problems with cell phones, internet access and computers

Nov 17, 08 1:46 AM CST
(Newser) - Digital technology plays a key role in the lives of most Americans, but it's often too complex, frustrating, and prone to failure, a study by the Pew Research Center finds. Nearly half of consumers said they regularly need help setting up a device, learning how to use it, or solving... More »

MORE ABOUT:
technology • Internet • Comcast • cell phones • iPod • BlackBerry • Pew Internet and American Life Project • MP3s • Pew Research Center • Internet access • consumers

analysis

Comcast Web Caps May Signal End of an Era

Though limits affect only 1% now, high-def video will change that

Sep 2, 08 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - With Comcast setting a limit on Internet usage beginning next month, the end of the Internet as we know it may be at hand, as ISPs move toward usage-based models like public utilities. Comcast, the second-largest US Internet provider, was careful to say that the bandwidth limit is so high—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • Comcast • telecom industry • net neutrality • Internet service providers • bandwidth usage • Time Warner Cable • Frontier Communications

Comcast Caps Internet Use, Says 99%
Won't Notice

250 GB-limit intended
to improve web quality

Aug 29, 08 2:27 PM CDT
(Newser) - Comcast subscribers will soon have their Internet usage capped, Reuters reports. From Oct. 1, the nation’s largest cable operator will limit monthly residential data use to 250 gigabytes to improve the quality of Internet delivery. The company says up to 99% of its subscribers will be unaffected by the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Internet • Comcast • FCC • broadband Internet • Time Warner Cable • peer-to-peer

23 Stories


Hearing exposes ISP traffic management techniques
BusinessWeek

Martin says Net access can't be blocked at will
Boston Globe

Comcast quizzed over BitTorrent block
CNET


Business 
TwitterFollow @NewserBusiness on Twitter

 
Internet • Comcast • FCC • broadband Internet • file sharing • net neutrality • ISP • Kevin Martin • Internet access

from our news partners