NEWS & REPORTS

Net Neutrality: It Affects You

Aug 21, 2014 | Articles

In April, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler put forth a proposal that would allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to allow “fast lane” privileges for those content providers who are willing to pay for it. ISPs have been pushing for these changes for a long time. Consumer groups are largely against these changes. As a compromise, the FCC has allowed limited consumer protections.

For example, an ISP may demand that a video or audio streaming company pay more for a bigger internet pipe. The FCC proposal prohibits these charges from being passed directly to consumers. Nothing prohibits ISPs from indirectly passing these charges on.

One side of the argument says that providers and ISPs should be able to work out any pricing deal they wish. The other side of the argument states that the same rules that apply to telephones and wireless providers. I believe that equal access among all providers is essential to commercial services (such as ELDs and telematics services). Even some of the larger internet firms such as Google and Facebook have come out against this proposal.

In an Aug. 5 speech, President Obama stated:
“One of the issues around net neutrality is whether you are creating different rates or charges for different content providers. That’s the big controversy here. So you have big, wealthy media companies who might be willing to pay more and also charge more for spectrum, more bandwidth on the Internet, so they can stream movies faster. I personally, the position of my administration, as well as a lot of the companies here, is that you don’t want to start getting a differentiation in how accessible the Internet is to different users. You want to leave it open so the next Google and the next Facebook can succeed.”

What can you do? The FCC is taking comments until September 15. You can file a comment or contact the FCC from here.

Need to learn more? We recommend:

Save the Internet Blog

Woody Leonhard’s article: Net Neutrality: What it Is, Why You Should Care

A Neutral Guide to Net Neutrality by Stephanie Cret.

Tom Risen – US News and World Report.

Edward Wyatt – New York Times.

Brian Fung – Washington Post.

About the Author

NEWS & REPORTS

THE DISCOVERY FALLACY

Doug Marcello The LEAD: Ignoring your data, fearing discovery in litigation, can be fatal to your company. The data is there. Plaintiffs will get it. You must proactively cumulate and analyze it to promote safety and proactively prepare to defend any potential suit....

Roadcheck is May 16 – Download the Inspection Guide

What can you expect duging any roadside inspectin - but especially during the annual Roadcheck blitz?  The inspectin guidelines are published and consistently used throughout North America. Download the guide here.

Preparing your drivers for deposition

Doug Marcello Your driver is to be deposed. They are to be thrust into a foreign world for which they have neither any experience nor concept. And out the other side of the process comes their “sworn testimony”, written in cement, as to the accident, training,...

Driver Survey Results

by David Hollis For the typical trucker who is in the driver's seat of their truck for most of their waking hours while on the road, having that seat be as comfortable as possible is a big deal. That's just one of the things we found out in our recent survey of what...

All 3G ELDs Do Not Comply with FMCSA Regs by 12/31/2022

Verizon is the last network to shut down their 3G network, the sunset date is December 31, 2022.  The other major networks shut down their 3G earlier this year. If you have an ELD system that relies on 3G to operate, it will no longer be compliant.  The carrier has 8...

CATEGORIES