Three weeks before FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler needs to begin circulating an Open Internet order in time for it to be voted at the commission’s Feb. 26 meeting, the agency appears at least to be weighing whether to include interconnection rules in the order, say some who have recently met with agency officials.
With an FCC vote on classifying mobile and fixed broadband as a Title II common carrier service on tap for Feb. 26, the drum beat against the plan is getting louder. Wireless carriers and associations independently released letters and studies Thursday. FCC officials, meanwhile, are denying the latest rumor that Chairman Tom Wheeler will have the commission vote on interim rather than permanent rules, at least in part, at the meeting. Industry officials on both sides of the issue said the noise level likely will increase leading up to the vote.
Three weeks before FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler needs to begin circulating an Open Internet order in time for it to be voted at the commission’s Feb. 26 meeting, the agency appears at least to be weighing whether to include interconnection rules in the order, say some who have recently met with agency officials.
With an FCC vote on classifying mobile and fixed broadband as a Title II common carrier service on tap for Feb. 26, the drum beat against the plan is getting louder. Wireless carriers and associations independently released letters and studies Thursday. FCC officials, meanwhile, are denying the latest rumor that Chairman Tom Wheeler will have the commission vote on interim rather than permanent rules, at least in part, at the meeting. Industry officials on both sides of the issue said the noise level likely will increase leading up to the vote.
Statements by EU and U.K. officials about boosting online anti-terrorism efforts following the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris are short on details, said tech companies, ISPs and civil society groups. In a Jan. 11 joint statement, various European justice and home affairs ministers backed a "partnership of the major Internet providers" to enable swift reporting and takedown of materials aimed at inciting hatred and terror. Afterward, British Prime Minister David Cameron said restrictions on the use of encryption in online messaging services are needed to fight terrorism. But it's unclear whether and how any of these proposals would work, stakeholders said. Cameron will reportedly ask President Barack Obama when they meet Friday to pressure U.S. Internet companies to work more closely with British intelligence services, The Guardianreported Thursday.
President Barack Obama declared his support Wednesday for ending state laws that restrict or prohibit municipal broadband deployments and said he would file a letter with the FCC urging the commission to use its authority to remove barriers to local broadband deployments, as expected (see 1501130067). “I believe a community has the right to make its own choice” on deploying broadband free from state restrictions, Obama said in a speech in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which has a municipal broadband network. He said “all of us,” including the FCC, “should do everything we can to push back on those old laws.”
President Barack Obama declared his support Wednesday for ending state laws that restrict or prohibit municipal broadband deployments and said he would file a letter with the FCC urging the commission to use its authority to remove barriers to local broadband deployments, as expected (see 1501130067). “I believe a community has the right to make its own choice” on deploying broadband free from state restrictions, Obama said in a speech in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which has a municipal broadband network. He said “all of us,” including the FCC, “should do everything we can to push back on those old laws.”
The rate caps inmate calling service providers proposed to the FCC last fall don't go far enough, Martha Wright and others who brought a civil suit in seeking ICS reform said in comments to the agency. The “so-called comprehensive reforms” proposed by Global TelLink, Securus and Telmate “merely freeze their monopoly profits at current levels,” said the comments, posted Tuesday in docket 12-375. The comments were among dozens filed at the end of Monday’s deadline.
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., reintroduced the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Friday, but a new year and a new session of Congress hasn’t substantially changed the bill’s prospects for enactment, industry lawyers and lobbyists told us. Ruppersberger cited North Korea’s December data breach at Sony Pictures Entertainment as the impetus for his early reintroduction of the bill, saying in a statement that “we must stop dealing with cyber attacks after the fact.” The version of CISPA for the 114th Congress (HR-234) is a near facsimile of the version the House passed during the 113th Congress (see report in April 19, 2013, issue). The Senate didn’t vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which was substantially similar to CISPA, before the 113th Congress adjourned in December.
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., reintroduced the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Friday, but a new year and a new session of Congress hasn’t substantially changed the bill’s prospects for enactment, industry lawyers and lobbyists told us. Ruppersberger cited North Korea’s December data breach at Sony Pictures Entertainment as the impetus for his early reintroduction of the bill, saying in a statement that “we must stop dealing with cyber attacks after the fact.” The version of CISPA for the 114th Congress (HR-234) is a near facsimile of the version the House passed during the 113th Congress (see report in April 19, 2013, issue). The Senate didn’t vote on the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which was substantially similar to CISPA, before the 113th Congress adjourned in December.