{"id":73559,"date":"2014-01-20T12:02:24","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T17:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=73559"},"modified":"2014-01-21T06:19:46","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T11:19:46","slug":"appellate-court-rules-against-net-neutrality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/technology\/appellate-court-rules-against-net-neutrality\/","title":{"rendered":"Appellate Court Rules Against Net Neutrality"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. circuit last Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was slapped down in its attempt to make sure Internet service providers cannot slow down or block websites with competing services, or favor sites that pay extra fees for faster service. Known as ‘Net neutrality’ (as in, ‘Network’), this idea of an ‘open Internet’ led to a set of rules approved by the FCC in 2010; big cable and telecommunications companies brought the lawsuit to court.<\/p>\n

\"But<\/a>
But for how long? Not long at all if we don’t ride our Representatives’ asses and get vocal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the government oversees the utilities we depend on, such as telephone service and electricity, the court said that the Internet doesn\u2019t count. At least, not under current law. This is the type of controversy that can pop up at the cusp of an age or era — which is where we are.
\n<\/span>
\nThe thing is, even compared to just 12 years ago when the FCC reclassified cable modem services as “information services” rather than “telecommunications services” (thus leaving Net neutrality vulnerable), the Internet\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0a crucial utility. Entire businesses, including Planet Waves, operate almost exclusively online. Even medical records are now entirely digital in most places, allowing medical facilities to share them with doctors elsewhere without the need for a courier service.<\/p>\n

Telecommunications companies keep swearing they’re just trying to give better service to all customers, but if you believe that, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in, too. It’s common sense that if Netflix gets charged more for all the bandwidth it eats up, you’ll be the one footing the bill as you stream their movies.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The FCC has suggested it will appeal the ruling, but it needs to find some teeth — and those cannot be found currently within the FCC or Congress, both of which have been left by the court to revise Net neutrality.<\/p>\n

“The only course is for public pressure to overcome industry pressure,” wrote Michael Hiltzik for the Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Tuesday. “That’s a tough road, but there’s no alternative. Do you want your Internet to look like your cable TV service, where you have no control over what comes into your house or what you pay for it? Then stay silent. If not, start writing letters and emails\u00a0to your elected representatives<\/a>\u00a0and the FCC now. It’s the only hope to save the free, open Internet.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. circuit last Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was slapped down in its attempt to make sure Internet service providers cannot slow down or block websites with competing services, or favor sites that pay extra fees for faster service. Known as ‘Net neutrality’ … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73559"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}