FCC Boss Wheeler Ambiguously Promises to Act on Net Neutrality With the FCC's neutrality loss, all eyes are now on new FCC boss Tom Wheeler to see precisely what kind of strategy the former cable and wireless lobbyist will employ to protect consumers from un-competitive behavior by incumbent gatekeepers. Wheeler has several options at his disposal, ranging from an appeal of the rules most believe are legally untenable, to the reclassification of ISPs as common carriers under Title II.

Though there is a third option preferred by a long line of Wheeler predecessors: a flourish of very impressive rhetoric followed by no substantive action whatsoever. Wheeler's not giving very clear details on what the agency plans to do next, though in a speech yesterday (CSPAN), the FCC boss did promise that the agency intends to fight with all the tools and authority at its disposal. "The court invited the commission to act, and I intend to accept that invitation," Wheeler stated in his speech at a conference by the Minority Media & Telecom Council. "Using our authority, we will readdress the concepts in the Open Internet Order, as the court invited, to encourage growth and innovation and enforce against abuse." A Wheeler blog entry the day the ruling came down is similarly ambiguous about what the FCC boss has planned, only re-iterating that while the court did strike down the FCC's already-rather-flimsy and loophole-filled net neutrality rules (wireless networks, for example, were largely excluded from the rules at Verizon, AT&T and Google's request), it did confirm that the agency does have the regulatory authority to regulate the broadband market under Section 706. For what it's worth, ISPs have promised to be on their best behavior, though as AT&T's Sponsored Data concept illustrates, any offenses planned by the ISPs will come with a whimper, not a bang. No ISP is going to invite more aggressive regulatory action by outright blocking of competing services or websites. Instead they will -- and have repeatedly -- abuse(d) gatekeeper authority in more subtle ways on a significant scale. Whether a former lobbyist for industry will step in to thwart these more subtle but no less problematic anti-competitive efforts remains entirely unclear. Whether a former lobbyist for industry will step in to thwart these more subtle but no less problematic anti-competitive efforts remains entirely unclear.







News Jump California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more Cogeco Rejects Altice USA's Atlantic Broadband Bid; AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump Attack; + more news ---------------------- this week last week most discussed

Most recommended from 68 comments

Millenium

join:2013-10-30 5 recommendations Millenium Member I'll Bet It's already happening and he'll do nothing.



AT&T is right now charging its users who visit any site or use any internet service that does not participate in its Sponsored Data program. On AT&T, no longer is the net neutral.



It isn't coming. It's here. FrontirCynic

join:2006-10-25

Long Beach, CA 3 recommendations FrontirCynic Member the future The "internet" is going to turn into the highly successful "cable" model. We are part way there now. You want a selection sure, you have FIOS and Time warner. Here is the pitch: "This month we are offering a special package with the google and you tube channels! Or maybe you would like the "news" group (we have handpicked sites we know you will like). Oh we are also running a spacial on our super popular "social media" package. Are you an over 65 facebooker? You will just love our social medial package (compared to what our competitor offers). We even throw in Pinterest this month...for free! Sorry we dont offer access to broadbandreports.com as they will not pay the fee to appear on our network but we do have our own chatrooms which are just as good. And yes we offer our own email which is much better than gmail. Sorry you will have to change over as we dont allow access to other company email on our system for national Security reasons..." We have a special this month...Your first 6 mo is 99.95 mo after that it goes to 499.00 mo.



You guys can trust the cable cos and phone cos. Really have they ever said one thing and done another? Of course not.! They are here to give you the consumer what YOU want