[Advocacy Advisors] FCC approves plan to allow for paid priority on Internet

[Amgine]

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 at 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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