Net Neutrality Bait And Switch To Title II
Net neutrality is forward-looking, 21st century Internet freedom. Title II is backward-looking, 1934 government restrictions of a bygone telephone monopoly.
Tagged: broadband
Budgets/Taxes · Economics · Government · Internet/Telecom · Regulation · Taxes
It’s Really, Really Time to Ban Internet Discrimination Forever
Once again the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act has been introduced in the House of Representatives, this time because the last temporary extension, passed in December, will expire on October 1. The bipartisan legislation bans taxes on Internet access permanently and disallows multiple or discriminatory taxes on Internet activities. If allowed to expire, states would begin to collect taxes on Internet access, or apply other discriminatory taxes that may already be in place in the state but which have been held at bay during the moratorium.
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Featured · Internet/Telecom · Podcast
HEARTLAND DAILY PODCAST – Seton Motley: How Title II Classification Could Lead to Internet Tax
Jim Lakely, communications director at The Heartland Institute and co-director of Heartland’s Center on the Digital Economy, talked with one of the best free-market tech experts in Washington: Less Government President Seton Motley, who also happens to be a policy advisor to Heartland.
Obama to the FCC: Go Ahead and Break the Internet
It is human nature to take for granted the status quo. It is dangerous to think government attempts to “improve” the status quo will do anything of the sort. The Internet is not broken. There is no problem for the FCC to fix.
“Where to Watch” Piracy Decrease
The Internet ecosystem just added a new tool to preserve the property of rights holders even while encouraging greater use of broadband. The Motion Picture Association has announced the launch of a new search engine called WheretoWatch.com.
Thinking the Unthinkable – Part IV
I was gratified by the excellent attendance at the Free State Foundation’s program last Friday titled, “Thinking the Unthinkable: Imposing the ‘Utility Model’ on Internet Providers.” If you weren’t there, you missed what was a very important event – one that, in light of the substantive discussions that occurred, likely will play an important role going forward in the debate over the Federal Communications Commission’s consideration of the imposition of new net neutrality mandates.
Net Neutrality and Maintaining a Free and Open Internet
On September 25, the Mercatus Center, a research and outreach organization that promotes market-oriented solutions from George Mason University, did a presentation on net neutrality. The speaker, research fellow in the technology policy program Brent Skorup, gave a wide overview of the net neutrality subject. Skorup discussed, among other things, how the Internet works, the working definition of net neutrality, exceptions to the rule, and the options the FCC is exploring.
Thinking the Unthinkable – Part III
Nothing has changed my mind that it would be “unthinkable” for the FCC to classify Internet service providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, the part of the 1934 communications law derived directly from the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The purpose of the Interstate Commerce Act was to constrain what was then seen as the monopolistic power of the railroads. The railroads were deregulated in the 1980s – long before the emergence today’s broadband Internet providers.
Will the FCC Break the Internet? – My Daily Caller Op-ed
Currently the FCC is considering reversing the legal status of American Internet services from lightly-regulated information services to utility-regulated “telecommunications” services in response to a 2014 appeals court decision that limited a portion of the FCC’s net neutrality regulatory authority.
Why Waxman’s FCC Internet Utility Regulation Plan Would Be Unlawful
Rep. Henry Waxman, Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee,wrote the FCC to propose that the FCC, in its pending Open Internet order remand, “reclassif[y] broadband providers as telecommunications services and then using the modern [Title I] authority of section 706 to set bright-line rules to prevent blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.”
Municipalities GON Wild!
Recently two towns, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the City of Wilson, North Carolina, have petitioned the federal government, via the FCC, complaining that state laws are constraining them from the municipal provision of broadband services, that is, from building a government owned network (GON). That is, these municipalities want to expend resources to build and operate broadband systems, without following any of regulations that govern private sector providers. To overcome the state’s rightful authority the city governments have proposed that the FCC preempt state law and empower municipalities in ways that upset the political structure of the U.S.
Featured · Internet/Telecom · Uncategorized
Stay Away From Muni Broadband
In this 3-minute video, titled “Stay away from Muni Broadband,” Scott Cleland lays out multiple reasons why we should be wary about Municipal Broadband.
Evaluating the Title II Rainbow of Proposals for the FCC to Go Nuclear
The FCC’s invitation has prompted a “rainbow of policy and legal proposals” that would explore “new ideas for protecting and promoting the open Internet” by imposing Title II telecommunications regulation on America’s Internet infrastructure.
FTC Implicitly Urges FCC to Not Reclassify Broadband as a Utility
The FTC implicitly laid down an important jurisdictional, political, and public marker against FCC reclassification of broadband as a utility, in its recent FCC filing in the FCC’s Section 706 inquiry proceeding.
The Forgotten Consumer In The Fast Lane Net Neutrality Debate
Is the Internet consumer in charge or the product sold to others? Is net neutrality about protecting consumers or Silicon Valley?
We’ll learn the answers to these critical questions in the coming months when the FCC votes on a redo of its “Open Internet” order implementing net neutrality.
Featured · Internet/Telecom · Regulation
Decompetition Decompetition Decompetition
The FCC’s new professed mantra is “competition competition competition.”
However, the FCC appears to be pursuing a de facto policy of decompetition rather than competition.
NetCompetition’s FCC Comments – Don’t Preempt State Muni Broadband Laws
There are two core reasons the FCC should not try to preempt State muni-broadband laws.
1. The Supreme Court has already indicated it would be unconstitutional.
2. It would be anti-competitive, the opposite of the FCC’s statutory purpose and legal mandate.
Featured · Internet/Telecom · Regulation
Maryland Rules Uber is a Common Carrier – Will FCC Agree?
The Daily Record reports that the Maryland Public Service Commission ruled that Uber is a common carrier subject to its regulatory jurisdiction. The PSC stated: “[W]hen viewed in their totality, the undisputed facts and circumstances in this case make it clear that Uber is engaged in the public transportation of persons for hire. Thus, Uber is a common carrier and a public service company over whom the Commission has jurisdiction…”
Obama Administration Doing Everyone’s Job – But Theirs
The myriad executive branch Departments, Agencies, Commissions and Boards have been in omni-directional fashion vastly exceeding their authority – doing things that are clearly the Constitutional purview of (amongst other others) the legislative and judicial branches.
Senator Thune, Commissioner Pai Advocate Telecom Policy Reform
I am grateful that Senator John Thune, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai spoke at the Free State Foundation’s June 25 seminar, “Reforming Communications[…]
NEWS: The Heartlander- Low Oil Prices Boost Economy March 2, 2015
- Naomi Oreskes Warps Climate Skeptic History March 2, 2015
- Florida Liberals, Conservatives Team Up for Solar February 27, 2015
- Sierra Club Misrepresents Itself Before New Mexico Legislature February 27, 2015
- U.N. Climate Chief Resigns amid Sex Scandal February 27, 2015
Heartland on YouTube
The Climate Change Awards
- Readable Links
- Government Tells Gruber Lie to the Supreme Court
- From Internet to Obamanet
- NYT Smears Scientist Willie Soon for Telling the Truth About 'Global Warming' - Breitbart
- FCC's Net Neutrality Proposal Signals the End of an Open Internet - US News
- Update on the New York Times/Ron Fournier Epic Fail
- Jon Stewart Was Never A Newsman
- Here Are The 'Science' Questions Reporters Should Ask Politicians
