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Trump Promotes Neutrality Opponent Ajit Pai to Lead FCC

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

President Donald Trump promoted a critic of net neutrality on Monday to chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing those regulations.

In a statement, Ajit Pai, a telecommunications lawyer whom President Barack Obama appointed to a Republican seat the FCC in 2012, said he was looking forward to working with his colleagues, thew Trump administration and Congress “to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans.”

Pai worked at Verizon Communications Inc. as an associate general counsel for two years, but much of his career has been spent working in government, bouncing among the Justice Department, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the FCC.

Image: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler testify at a House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 24, 2015.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, lect, and Chairman Tom Wheeler testify at a House hearing in Washington, D.C., in March 2015. Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

In 2015, he voted against the agency’s net neutrality regulations, which mandated that cable, cellphone and other telecom companies should providing internet service like a public utility, without favoring particular providers over others.

(NBC News is a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corp., the largest internet provider in the United States.)

At one point, while the agency was still considering the rules, it received nearly 4 million comments, with 99 percent in support, according to the Sunlight Foundation, an open government advocacy organization.

The FCC approved the rules, but Pai accused the agency in a 67-page dissent of “turning its back on internet freedom” in favor of government regulation because Obama ordered it to.

“The courts will ultimately decide this order’s fate,” he said. “And I doubt they will countenance this unlawful power grab.”

Pai added that the order’s “days are numbered.”

At a gala held last month held by the Free State Foundation, a free market think tank, Pai said he was more confident than ever in that prediction.

His appointment Monday was welcomed by conservatives, including fellow Republican Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, who said in a statement that it “makes sense that President Trump handpicked him to carry out the administration’s broad vision.” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, wrote on Twitter that he looked forward to seeing the FCC’s “proper role restored.”

 “We are concerned that Commissioner Pai may take steps to undermine net neutrality protections,” Corynne McSherry, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told NBC News in a statement. “If so, we — and millions of Internet users — will do what is necessary to defend a free and open Internet.”

Pai succeeds Tom Wheeler, whom Obama appointed chairman in 2013. Open internet advocates also had reservations about Wheeler, a former chief lobbyist for both the cable and the cellphone industries — which are among the leading opponents of net neutrality.

But Wheeler surprised many observers, personally leading the FCC’s sweeping charge to open the telecommunications sector to competition and emerging as an ally to his onetime critics.

On Friday, his last day in office, Wheeler tweeted: “Upon my @FCC departure, I would like to sign off with 3 words of wisdom that guided me well: competition, competition, competition”

[Source:- nbcnews]

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Internet

EU Telecom Regulators Take Strict View of Net Neutrality Rules

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

EU Telecom Regulators Take Strict View of Net Neutrality Rules

EU regulators on Tuesday adopted a strict interpretation of rules limiting how telecoms firms like Vodafone and Orange can prioritise some types of internet traffic, aiming to protect the principle that all web traffic be treated equally.

The guidelines on net neutrality were welcomed by internet activists as ensuring the web remains an open platform and not a two-speed highway, benefiting only companies with deep pockets that can pay for prioritised delivery.

“Because of this law, telecom companies won’t be able to sell a first-class Internet to the mega-rich while the rest of us travel coach,” said Luca Nicotra, a senior campaigner for citizens’ group Avaaz.

The European Union adopted its first-ever net neutrality law last year and the latest guidelines will help determine how regulators enforce those rules.

The telecoms industry has been seeking to increase revenues by offering specialised services that need a guaranteed level of quality, to offset declining turnover from its traditional telephony business.

Companies had pushed for leeway allowing them to prioritise some types of data over others, but under the latest guidelines they will only be able to offer so-called specialised services – such as connectivity for driverless cars and internet-connected devices – over dedicated network capacity if it is “objectively necessary” and only if it does not negatively affect the Internet.

“We encourage national regulators to maintain the pragmatic and flexible approach that was intended by the EU regulation and that has served customers, innovation and industry in Europe well to date,” said a spokesman for cable operator Liberty Global .

Services such as high-quality voice calling on mobile networks, live television delivered over the Internet and remote surgery, or telesurgery, are likely to be allowed as specialised services, according to the guidelines.

The telecoms industry said it was essential to avoid “restrictive interpretations” of the net neutrality law.

“Let’s make sure the implementation of net neutrality rules does not hamper new applications and services,” said Lise Fuhr, director general of ETNO, a telecoms lobbying group representing operators including Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Telecom Italia.

Regulators also limited the extent to which telecoms operators may exempt some applications, for example Facebook, from a customer’s data usage, a practice known as zero-rating.

Customers would not be able to continue using Facebook or, say, Spotify, for free once they have used up all the data in their subscription.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Internet

Trai to Release Discussion Paper on Net Neutrality by Month-End

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Trai to Release Discussion Paper on Net Neutrality by Month-End

Telecom regulator Trai Wednesday said it will bring out a consultation paper on Net Neutrality, and separately also firm-up its views on the issue of Free Data by the end of the month.

“For net neutrality, the pre-consultation has happened and we are now in the process of firming-up the final consultation paper, hopefully by the end of this month,” Trai Chairman, R S Sharma said on the sidelines of a conference.

He further said the regulator will take a view on Free Data in a similar timeframe. “By month-end, we will be able to take a call… I can’t say what will be the outcome of that.

Every consultation paper does not have to result into regulation or tariff order but whatever the conclusion, we will be able to make it, by the month-end,” he said.

The two issues, Free Data and Net Neutrality, will be handled separately. “These two will be different, certainly. Because in the Free Data paper, we have said that whatever architecture is brought out that should respect the principles of Net Neutrality,” he said.

In Free Data, the regulator is exploring models to give consumers free Internet service within the Net Neutrality framework, after barring platforms like Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel Zero under its differential pricing rule.

It sought public views on whether there is a need to have TSP-agnostic platform to provide free data or suitable reimbursement to users, without violating the principles of its differential pricing for data rules.

In May this year, Trai, through a pre-consultation round, sought public views on aspects of Net Neutrality that need be considered for a discussion framework.

There has been a conflict between telecom operators, Internet companies and consumers interest on the issue of net neutrality.

While all the three major stakeholders – telecom operators, Internet companies and consumers – favour net neutrality, they define it differently from their standpoint.

The debate on net neutrality picked up in India when telecom operator Bharti Airtel in December 2014decided to charge extra for making Internet calls. But, the company rolled back its plan after public protest.

It then launched Airtel Zero platform which provided fee access to websites under it, while websites were required pay for being on it.

Later, Facebook also came up with a zero rating platform ‘Free Basics’ which provided free access to some websites available on its platform for Reliance Communications customers in India. Both these platforms were seen as violation to net neutrality and later Trai issued a regulation which barred zero rating platform.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Internet

US FCC Chair Defends Weakening Net Neutrality Despite Senate Vote

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

US FCC Chair Defends Weakening Net Neutrality Despite Senate Vote

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Revoking “net neutrality” would bring more broadband construction: Pai
  • Pai ignored the overwhelming public support, said a Democrat
  • US Senate voted to restore ‘Net Neutrality’ rules on Wednesday

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Thursday defended his decision to kill Obama-era net neutrality rules a day after the Senate voted to nullify the rules change.

“The best approach is the light-touch approach,” Pai said as he faced criticism from Democratic members of the Senate appropriations committee considering the FCC’s budget. They included Sen. Patrick Leahy, of Vermont, who said Pai showed contempt for the public by not heeding public opinion that favours stronger net neutrality rules.

“You ignored the overwhelming public support – I mean, I’ve never seen such overwhelming public support – for net neutrality,” Leahy said.

Pai said the measure passed by the FCC last year to revoke net neutrality rules would bring more broadband construction. Providers need to report details of handling web traffic to the FCC, and the agency will enforce that requirement aggressively, Pai said.

“We want a free and open Internet,” Pai said.

On Wednesday Senate Democrats won a vote to preserve the Obama-era net neutrality regulations that Pai gutted. The vote was 52 to 47 with three Republicans joining all the Democrats and independents in favour of a resolution to eliminate Pai’s rule change.

The win could be short-lived though it may appeal to young voters and boost the party in mid-term elections. The measure needs to win a vote in the House where Republicans have a larger majority, and to get a signature from President Donald Trump, who supports the FCC’s action.

Rep. Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said Thursday that he has started a petition to force a House vote but it is unclear if he will get the 218 signatures needed.

In eliminating Obama-era rules forbidding Internet service providers from blocking or slowing web traffic, the FCC put in their place requirements that companies disclose how they handle data flows. Enforcement is left to another agency. The change is to take effect June 11.

Open-Internet advocates are challenging the new rule in federal court.

Sen. Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who introduced Wednesday’s resolution, said during debate on the Senate floor that the measure would guarantee “no slowing down certain websites, no blocking websites, and no charging you more to exercise your 21st century right to access the Internet.”

Republicans voting for the measure included Susan Collins of Maine, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

“Restoring the FCC’s net neutrality rules will ensure that the Internet will remain open,” Collins said in an email. Rules could help rural carriers to connect with the rest of the Internet, Collins said. She called for “strong protections that guarantee consumer choice, free markets, and continued growth along with meaningful consumer privacy and data security protections.”

Gigi Sohn, who helped write the Obama-era rule as an FCC aide, said the measure could become law.

“Don’t listen to the naysayers – momentum is on the side of those who favour restoring net neutrality now,” she said in an email. “With Americans united and the 2018 midterm election less than 6 months away, the Joint Resolution has a real chance of passing.”

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., disagreed. He called Markey’s resolution “cynical” and a “bizarre exercise which we all know isn’t going anywhere.”

The House won’t pass it and Trump would veto it, Thune said.

Net neutrality is an issue that resonates among certain Democratic voters, particularly millennials who might be persuaded to turn out in greater numbers in November’s midterm elections that may determine which party controls the House and Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 margin.

“For millions of motivated and infrequent voters, this is a top issue,” Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, told reporters. “Other than health care and taxes, this is one of the issues that has motivated most grassroots activity.”

Jonathan Spalter, president of USTelecom, a trade group with members including AT&T and Verizon Communications, said the vote sets back the goal of an open Internet.

“Consumers want permanent, comprehensive online protections, not half measures or election-year posturing from our representatives in Congress,” he said in an email.

Broadband companies and some Republicans have pushed for legislation that Democrats argue would weaken the FCC.

The Senate’s action was “largely symbolic” and lawmakers should craft legislation, Brian Dietz, a spokesman for NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, said in an emailed statement. Members of the trade group include the largest U.S. cable provider, Comcast Corp.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in an email that the Senate “took a big step to fix the serious mess the FCC made when it rolled back net neutrality last year.”

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

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