Work Cited

http://www.newyorktimes.com/
http://www.informationweek.com/
http://www.newscnet.com/

"President Obama has threatened to veto legislation overturning the agency's ability to regulate broadband internet traffic"

"The House of Representatives has voted to overturn rules passed by the Federal Communications Commission that prevented Internet service providers from controlling online access."

"The House voted 240 to 179 Friday for a Republican-backed resolution reversing the FCC's net neutrality rules passed in December. The House Joint Resolution 37, sponsored by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., was approved nearly along party lines, with all but six Democrats and two Republicans voting against the resolution."

"The F.C.C. had formally voted in 2008 to uphold a complaint against Comcast, saying that it had illegally inhibited users of its high-speed Internet service from using popular file-sharing software. The decision, which imposed no fine, required Comcast to end such blocking."

'The court case, which the federal appeals court ruled on in April 2010, centered on Comcast's challenge of the 2008 F.C.C. order."

"Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco acknowledged in a statement that the FCC rules are not sufficiently clear, consistent, of firm to effectively protect  consumers  and innovative freedom."

"In 2005, the Federal Communications Commission had adapted four broad principles relating to the idea of network neutrality as part of a move to deregulate the internet services provided by telephone companies. Those principles declared the consumers had the right to use the content, applications, services and devices of their choice using the Internet. They also promoted competition between Internet providers."

"The F.C.C. under the Obama administration is moving to add a fifth principle that will prevent Internet providers from discriminating against certain services or applications. Consumer advocates are concerned that Internet providers might ban or degrade services that compete with their own offerings, like television shows delivered over the Web."

"That would be a big change from the level playing field that content companies now enjoy. Barry Diller, who oversees Expedia, Ticketmaster, Match.com and other sites, described the idea as the equivalent of having the toaster pay for the ability to plug itself into the electrical grid."

"These fast lanes are fairly easy to understand when it comes to wireless Internet access, but what confused many was the suggestion by Google and Verizon that future online services that are not part of the public Internet should also be exempt from equal-access rules, These service would be distinguishable from traditional broadband Internet access services, the two companies said in a joint blog post.It is too soon to predict how these new services will develop, but examples might include health care monitoring, the smart grid, advanced educational services or new entertainment and gaming options."

"Since the court decision, the F.C.C. has been trying to find a way to regulate broadband delivery, On Dec, 1, 2010, Mr. Genachowski outlined a framework that forbids both wired and wireless Internet service providers from blocking lawful content, but would allow broadband providers to charge consumers different levels of service. His proposal would also allow broadband providers to manage their networks to limit congestion or harmful traffic, and forms the basis for a proposed order the F.C.C. will vote on at its meeting in the closing  days of 2010."

"The issue took on a new urgency with the Verizon-Google proposal, which was favored by some telecommunications companies like AT&T but opposed by Facebook and many other Internet content companies. Much of the debate rests on the idea of paid fast lanes. Content companies, the theory goes, would have to pay for favored access to a carrier's customers, so some Web sites or video services could load faster than others."

"The F.C.C. compromise followed a proposal made in August by Google and Verizon, which called on regulators to enforce net neutrality on wired connections but not on the wireless Internet. They also excluded something they called additional, differentiated online services."

"One of the main factors in the current debate is the F.C.C.'s defeat in federal court. The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that the agency lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks was a big victory for the Comcast Corporation, the nation's largest cable company. It had challenged the F.C.C.'s authority to impose the so called net neutrality obligations."

"The new rules are, at best, net semi-neutrality. They ban any outright blocking and any unreasonable discrimination  of Web sites or applications by fixed-line broadband providers, but they afford more wiggle room to wireless providers like AT&T and Verizon. They require all providers to disclose what steps they take to manage their networks. In a philosophical break would allow a company to pay for faster transmission of data."

"The F.C.C.'s new approach won widespread acceptance among some Internet providers, developers and venture capital firms , but a wide swath of public interest groups have lambasted the proposal as fake net neutrality and said it was rife with loopholes."

"On Dec. 21, 2010, the F.C.C. approved a compromise that would broadly create two classes of Internet access, one for fixed-line providers and the other for the wireless Net. The vote was 3 to 2, with the Democratic commissioners supporting it and the Republican commissioners against."

"The rules, which address some of the principles of so-called network neutrality, will be tested in the courts in the months ahead, and Republicans said that they would challenge the rules in Congress as well."

Current Ocurrance

"Internet users obtain access to any Web site on an equal basis. The Federal Communications Commission had come out in favor of keeping things that way, but its ability to do so was put in doubt by a federal appeals decision in April 2010 that restricted its authority over broadband service."