Favorite The future of the open internet is in danger this October 31st, not from ghosts and goblins, but from the broadband companies that control internet access in most of the United States. These companies would love to use their oligopoly power to charge users and websites additional fees for “premium” internet access, which they…
All posts tagged Net Neutrality
Victory! FCC Closes Loopholes and Restores Net Neutrality
Favorite Thanks to weeks of the public speaking up and taking action the FCC has recognized the flaw in their proposed net neutrality rules. The FCC’s final adopted order on net neutrality restores bright line rules against all forms of throttling, once again creating strong federal protections for all Americans. The FCC’s initial order had…
Internet Service Providers Plan to Subvert Net Neutrality. Don’t Let Them
Favorite In the absence of strong net neutrality protections, internet service providers (ISPs) have made all sorts of plans that would allow them to capitalize on something called “network slicing.” While this technology has all sorts of promise, what the ISPs have planned would subvert net neutrality—the principle that all data be treated equally by…
Tell the FCC It Must Clarify Its Rules to Prevent Loopholes That Will Swallow Net Neutrality Whole
Favorite The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released draft rules to reinstate net neutrality, with a vote on adopting the rules to come on the 25th of April. The FCC needs to close some loopholes in the draft rules before then. Proposed Rules on Throttling and Prioritization Allow for the Circumvention of Net Neutrality Net…
In the Trenches of Broadband Policy: 2023 Year In Review
Favorite EFF has long advocated for affordable, accessible, future-proof internet access for all. Nearly 80% of Americans already consider internet access to be as essential as water and electricity, so as our work, health services, education, entertainment, social lives, etc. increasingly have an online component, we cannot accept a future where the quality of your…
The FCC is Expected to Propose the Return of Net Neutrality Protections Oct 19th – Let’s Hope They Get it Right!
Favorite Network neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks fairly, without discrimination in favor of particular apps, sites or services. It is a principle that must be upheld to protect the open Internet. The idea that ISPs could prevent access to certain sites, slow…
To Save the News, We Need an End-to-End Web
Favorite This is part five of an ongoing, five-part series. Part one, the introduction, is here. Part two, about breaking up ad-tech companies, is here. Part three, about banning surveillance ads, is here. Part four, about opening up app stores, is here. Download this whole series as a single PDF. Once, news organizations enthusiastically piled…
New Proposal Brings Us a Step Closer to Net Neutrality
Favorite Right now, Americans live in a country where the companies that control our access to the internet face little-to-no oversight. In most states, these companies can throttle your service—or that of, say, a fire department fighting the largest wildfire in state history. They can block a service they don’t like. In addition to charging…
Stop This California Bill that Bans Affordable Broadband Rules
Favorite The California Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee will soon be the first to consider new and terrible amendments to Assemblymember Quirk-Silva’s A.B. 2749—which is backed by AT&T and other telecommunications interests. The legislation would prohibit the state from implementing affordable broadband rules for broadband companies receiving state subsidies as part of the new…
We Finally Have a Federal Fiber Broadband Plan
Favorite There is a lot to appreciate in the recently published “Notice of Funding Opportunity” (NOFO) by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA). It is arguably the first federal government proposal that seeks to promote infrastructure policies focused on the future, rather than the usual subsidizing “good enough for now” access. That…