The War on the Internet has begun - Mobile Phones 1st up

I told you it was coming to this...

Washington’s Blog
Dec 21, 2010
The FCC will vote this morning between 10:30 and 12:30 Eastern time on a proposed rule written by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski which would gut the Internet. It would allow the big carriers to create different tiers of mobile Web access and speed depending on how much you pay, allow them to block what you can access on the web, and would destroy net neutrality.
Given that more and more of the web is being accessed via mobile devices, Senator Al Franken calls this “the most important free speech issue of our time”.

As Franken points out:
Mobile networks like AT&T and Verizon Wireless would be able to shut off your access to content or applications for any reason. For instance, Verizon could prevent you from accessing Google Maps on your phone, forcing you to use their own mapping program, Verizon Navigator, even if it costs money to use and isn’t nearly as good. Or a mobile provider with a political agenda could prevent you from downloading an app that connects you with the Obama campaign (or, for that matter, a Tea Party group in your area).
It gets worse. The FCC has never before explicitly allowed discrimination on the Internet — but the draft Order takes a step backwards, merely stating that so-called “paid prioritization” (the creation of a “fast lane” for big corporations who can afford to pay for it) is cause for concern.
It sure is — but that’s exactly why the FCC should ban it. Instead, the draft Order would have the effect of actually relaxing restrictions on this kind of discrimination.
What’s more, even the protections that are established in the draft Order would be weak because it defines “broadband Internet access service” too narrowly, making it easy for powerful corporations to get around the rules.

Call the FCC today and demand the rejection of Chairman Genachowski’s proposed rule, and the adoption instead of true net neutrality rules for both the mobile and plug-in Internet.
Better yet, demand “Common Carrier” status for all Internet Service Providers – including mobile ones – which would go beyond the net neutrality debate by ensuring that ISPs have no concern for the content of the bits they are moving on their customers’ behalf, and would help to break up the “too big to fail” service/content providers, in the same way the breaking up the too big to fail banks would make the banking system work better.
You can try the main number (1-888-CALL FCC), or here are the Commissioner’s individual phone numbers:
Julius Genachowski (202) 418-1000
Michael Copps (202) 418-2000
Robert M. McDowell (202) 418-2200
Mignon Clyburn (202) 418-2100
Meredith Attwell Baker (202) 418-2400
Better yet, fax a letter to the FCC at 1-866-418-0232.








Timothy Karr
Huffington post
Dec 21, 2010

Late Monday, a majority of the FCC’s commissioners indicated that they’re going to vote with Chairman Julius Genachowski for a toothless Net Neutrality rule.
According to all reports, the rule, which will be voted on during tomorrow’s FCC meeting, falls drastically short of earlier pledges by President Obama and the FCC Chairman to protect the free and open Internet.

The rule is so riddled with loopholes that it’s become clear that this FCC chairman crafted it with the sole purpose of winning the endorsement of AT&T and cable lobbyists, and not defending the interests of the tens of millions of Internet users.

Welcome to AT&T’s Internet
For the first time in history of telecommunications law the FCC has given its stamp of approval to online discrimination.
Instead of a rule to protect Internet users’ freedom to choose, the Commission has opened the door for broadband payola – letting phone and cable companies charge steep tolls to favor the content and services of a select group of corporate partners, relegating everyone else to the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

Instead of protecting openness on wireless Internet devices like the iPhone and Droid, the Commission has exempted the mobile Internet from Net Neutrality protections. This move enshrines Verizon and AT&T as gatekeepers to the expanding world of mobile Internet access, allowing them to favor their own applications while blocking, degrading or de-prioritizing others.

Instead of re-establishing the FCC's authority to act as a consumer watchdog over the Internet, it places the agency's authority on a shaky and indefensible legal footing -- giving ultimate control over the Internet to a small handful of carriers.

Obama's 'Mission Accomplished'

Internet users deserve far better, and we thought we were going to get it from a president who promised to "take a backseat to no one in my commitment to Net Neutrality." Watch now as he and his FCC chairman try to spin tomorrow's betrayal as another "mission accomplished."

Don't believe it. This bogus victory has become all too familiar to those watching the Obama administration and its appointees squander opportunities for real change. The reality is that reform is just a rhetorical front for industry compromises that reward the biggest players and K-Street lobbyists while giving the public nothing.

It's not the FCC chairman's job to seek consensus among the corporations that he was put into office to regulate. His duty is to protect Internet users.

More than two million people have taken action on behalf of Net Neutrality. Tomorrow, we'll all get the carpet yanked from beneath our feet.

Net Neutrality is the freedom of speech, freedom of choice issue of the 21st century. It's the guarantee of a more open and democratic media system that was baked into the Internet at its founding.

On Tuesday, Obama's FCC is going to sell that out.

them assholes I'm faxing and calling!

FCC approves controversial ‘Net Neutrality’ regulations

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story
December 21, 2010

By a 3-2 vote Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed so-called "Net Neutrality" rules aimed at prohibiting internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating between Internet traffic.

Supporters of "Net Neutrality" have been disappointed by the proposed rules, saying they heavily favor the industry they are supposed to regulate.

Democratic Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps both voted with Chairman Julius Genachowski in favor of the new rules, despite saying they believed the Open Internet Order to be too weak.

Republican Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker voted against it.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who has championed "Net Neutrality" in the past, said the FCC's proposed rules would actually "destroy" the principle of "Net Neutrality."



The rules authored by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski would require ISPs to allow their customers to have access all legal online content, applications and services over their wired networks and prohibit unreasonable network discrimination.

But the plan would also allow for a greater fractioning of the Internet and data rationing on mobile and wired networks, according to analysis of the policies. Major network stakeholders like Verizon and AT&T would be able to sell bandwidth in capped tiers, with overage charges for users who download too much information, and certain types of data traffic like peer-to-peer file transfers could be banned altogether.

The FCC would additionally require broadband providers to disclose their network management practices.

If they pass and telecoms are allowed to move forward with their plans, "the Internet as we know it would cease to exist," Sen. Franken concluded in an editorial published by Huffington Post.

"That's why Tuesday is such an important day," he continued. "The FCC will be meeting to discuss those regulations, and we must make sure that its members understand that allowing corporations to control the Internet is simply unacceptable."

In a recent speech, Genachowski specified that the FCC's rules would permit ISPs to charge heavy bandwidth users even more, creating a tiered pricing structure. ISPs would also be able to charge fees to businesses serving large quantities of data.

The new rules would apply to wireless Internet providers as well as wired Internet providers, but wireless Internet providers are expected to receive greater flexibility in their ability to manage web traffic.

Tiered pricing structures are already in place for many communications providers like AT&T and Cricket, which offer wireless broadband services. Verizon said it would implement similar pricing structures in the coming months.

With a recent report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that a majority of Americans age 25-29 live in households that only have cell phone access, the importance of wireless connections is expected to grow.

"We are deeply disappointed that the chairman chose to ignore the overwhelming public support for real 'Net Neutrality,' instead moving forward with industry-written rules that will for the first time in Internet history allow discrimination online," Free Press Managing Director Craig Aaron said in a statement. "This proceeding was a squandered opportunity to enact clear, meaningful rules to safeguard the Internet's level playing field and protect consumers."

Republican Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell warned Tuesday that the new "Net Neutrality" rules would be used by President Barack Obama to takeover the Internet.

"The Obama Administration, which has already nationalized health care, the auto industry, insurance companies, banks and student loans, will move forward with what could be a first step in controlling how Americans use the Internet by establishing federal regulations on its use," he said.

Republican Commissioner McDowell had less alarmist disagreements with the new rules.

"Analysts and broadband companies of all sizes have told the FCC that new rules are likely to have the perverse effect of inhibiting capital investment, deterring innovation, raising operating costs, and ultimately increasing consumer price," he wrote in an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal. "On this winter solstice, we will witness jaw-dropping interventionist chutzpah as the FCC bypasses branches of our government in the dogged pursuit of needless and harmful regulation."

She's a spy!