She is a winsome wee thing, She is a handsome wee thing, She is a bonny wee thing, This sweet wee wife o' mine - Robert Burns
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Verizon sues FCC over net neutrality rules
US TELCO Verizon has launched a court challenge against net neutrality rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a move that everybody saw coming.
Verizon claims that the FCC has exceeded its authority by imposing rules to prevent ISPs from blocking access to certain websites and applications. The rules are intended to prevent telecom and cable firms from discriminating against Internet services in favour of their own or those of paying customers.
For example, the online calling service Skype would likely suffer discrimination, as it impacts on the profits made by major telecom providers. Google also offers services that compete with the incumbent telecoms and actively supports the FCC net neutrality proposals.
The FCC rules it voted to adopt in December provide wireless firms some freedom to manage their networks, but expressly forbid them from blocking access to any websites as well as competing voice and video apps.
Verizon is the first company to appeal the order, claiming that the FCC regulations are unconstitutional and beyond the authority delegated by US Congress.
It is uncertain what's going to happen here. The FCC thinks that the order is legally sound, while the US federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia previously ruled that the FCC overstepped its authority in the past.
There's a clash between the open Internet and the freedom that businesses expect to innovate and grow in any way they choose. The only thing that is certain so far is that this saga is going to rumble on. µ
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@AC - 100% wrong
If that were to happen, I can see them all having their classifications changed to "Contract Carrier".
American ISPs are NOT common carriers, and they have been fighting hard to avoid being classified as such. Were they to be designated as common carriers then net neutrality would be compulsory on everything (not just the watered down rules on wired ISPs), plus they would be subject to much more stringent FCC control.
The answer to the problem if they won't accept the FCC net neutrality rules is to reclassify them AS common carriers and see how they like that.
... that net neutrality and common carrier status are bound up together.
Common carrier status, as you will no doubt be aware, grants limited immunity to liability for what is carried on a network on the assumption that the network operator cannot reasonably know what it contains.
Conversely, abandoning net neutrality means that network operators reserve the right to examine everything you send or receive, then decide how they are going to prioritize it.
Very well, then. Let that be the compromise: network operators are no longer required to maintain net neutrality, but in so doing they lose common carrier status.
That seems eminently fair.