Hi Amgine,
At this point, we are just gathering information and thinking about whether
to support any particular action. It would be very helpful to hear what
you and other people on this list think about the FCC's proposal.
Best,
Yana
On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 1:45 PM, Amgine <amgine(a)wikimedians.ca> wrote:
Yanna --
Thank you very much for this! I believe it is the WMF's assessment at the
moment to support the US FCC's reclassification of ISPs as "common
carriers" and then prohibit "fast lanes", correct?
Amgine
On May 20, 2014, at 22:07, Yana Welinder <ywelinder(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hi all,
I wanted to provide a quick update on this now that we've had a chance
to
review the 180+ page notice.
The FCC is proposing rules that would require ISPs to be transparent
about the
provision of their services and prohibit blocking of lawful
content and "commercially unreasonable practices." The FCC would determine
whether particular practices are "commercially unreasonable" on a
case-by-case basis based on a number of factors. The rules would require
ISPs to provide a "minimum level of access" to the Internet, which is
basically our current internet connection. But they leave open the
possibility of ISPs developing "fast lanes" for businesses that negotiate
deals with ISPs for faster access (as long as the deals are not
"commercially unreasonable").
Based on a recent court decision striking down the FCC's previous Open
Internet rules, the FCC may not have the power to ban fast lanes under
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, which is the basis for the
proposal. The FCC is therefore asking for comments on whether it should
reclassify ISPs as "common carriers" under Title II of the Act, which would
give it the power prohibit fast lanes. The FCC is also soliciting feedback
on whether it should expressly prohibit fast lanes.
If ISPs create fast lanes, they may not have an incentive to maintain
and develop
the "slow lane." The concern is that only companies that can
afford being in a fast lane will be able to benefit from improvements,
creating a gap between large companies and nonprofits and start-ups. The
Wikimedia projects would probably not be in a fast lane for financial and
policy reasons. This means that users may get slower access to the projects
than to some other sites. The same thing may happen with blogs and various
online sources that Wikimedians rely on to develop content on the projects.
I attended a meeting earlier today about the FCC's proposal where many
of the
companies and organizations that sent letters to the FCC in
anticipation of the proposal were represented. It seems that many of them
may be submitting comments in the 60 day public comment period to ask the
FCC to reclassify ISPs as "common carriers" under Title II and prohibit
fast lanes.
Best,
Yana
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Yana Welinder
Legal Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
415.839.6885 ext. 6867
@yanatweets <https://twitter.com/yanatweets>
NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical
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