F.C.C. Moves Toward Restoring Net Neutrality Rules, Igniting Regulatory Fight - The New York Times

The move will ultimately enable the agency to categorize high-speed internet as a utility, like water or electricity. That is a major step toward modernizing the agency's objectives, especially as consumers increasingly depend on the internet as their main source for communications. The agency will then be able to police broadband providers for net neutrality violations, consumer harm and security lapses. 

 "Now is the time for our rules of the road for internet service providers to reflect the reality that internet access is a necessity for daily life," Jessica Rosenworcel, the chair of the F.C.C., said in a statement...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/technology/fcc-net-neutrality-vote.html

Biden urges FCC to undo Pai’s legacy—but it can’t until he picks a third Democrat | Ars Technica

… "The Order tackles four issues that limit competition, raise prices, and reduce choices for Internet service," the Biden fact sheet's broadband section said. "More than 200 million US residents live in an area with only one or two reliable high-speed Internet providers, leading to prices as much as five times higher in these markets than in markets with more options…

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/07/biden-urges-fcc-to-undo-pais-legacy-but-it-cant-until-he-picks-a-third-democrat/

FCC broadband $50 discount begins May 12. Here's how to apply

… Any household with income at or below 135% of the federal poverty guidelines is eligible, as are those in the free and reduced-price school lunch program and school breakfast program. Also eligible: those who had a substantial loss of income since Feb. 29, 2020 and are at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/05/05/fcc-broadband-subsidy-internet-discount-covid-payment/4939089001/

The FCC wants your help to get a better picture of US broadband access | Popular Science

... the FCC is trying to get a handle on what US internet access really looks like, and the Commission is urging people to use its Speed Test app to provide concrete data...

https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/the-fcc-wants-your-help-to-get-a-better-picture-of-us-broadband-access/

‘Damn it … I’m sick and tired of ordinary people being fleeced’: Biden defends corporate tax hike - POLITICO

... "I can't imagine why someone would say, 'I'm for broadband, we should definitely have rural broadband, but I'm going to vote against it because I don't think it meets the traditional definition of infrastructure.'"...

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/07/biden-infrastructure-speech-479721

Biden Announces His Broadband Plan—and ISPs Will Hate It | WIRED

The $100 billion proposal will probably be met with fierce resistance by telecom companies, but there's a lot to like for internet users...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/03/biden-broadband-plan-will-be-hated-by-big-isps-welcomed-by-internet-users/

Agree to Disagree: Broadband for All? - YouTube

From virtual classes to digital happy hours with friends, the pandemic is transforming the way we live, work, and study. But as Americans become increasingly reliant on the internet, we ask: Just who should ensure you have the connection you need? And how might communities go about bridging the increasingly talked-about digital divide? In this episode of our new series "Agree to Disagree," we bring two of the nation's leading communications law experts together to discuss what broadband looks like in the United States, if the internet should be treated as a public utility, and whether government -- or the free market -- is better suited to keep us connected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU60vk5g-Ms

US students are being asked to work remotely. But 22% of homes don't have internet

When schools move online, poorer students fall behind. This digital divide existed long before Covid-19, but now it is thrown into sharp relief ....
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/23/us-students-are-being-asked-to-work-remotely-but-22-of-homes-dont-have-internet

ISPs lied to Congress to spread confusion about encrypted DNS, Mozilla says | Ars Technica

Mozilla is urging Congress to reject the broadband industry's lobbying campaign against encrypted DNS in Firefox and Chrome. The Internet providers' fight against this privacy feature raises questions about how they use broadband customers' Web-browsing data, Mozilla wrote in a letter sent today to the chairs and ranking members of three House of Representatives committees. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/isps-lied-to-congress-to-spread-confusion-about-encrypted-dns-mozilla-says/

Broadband advisor picked by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai arrested on fraud charges - The Verge

Elizabeth Pierce allegedly tricked investors into pouring $250 million into a fiber optic scheme by forging revenue agreements ....
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17245010/elizabeth-pierce-fraud-charges-bdac-fcc-ajit-pai

Washington state’s net neutrality law is the beginning of a big headache for Internet providers - The Washington Post

Washington has become the first state in the nation to enact its own net neutrality rules that impose strict requirements on Internet providers, making it illegal for broadband companies to block or slow down websites.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/06/washington-states-net-neutrality-law-is-the-beginning-of-a-big-headache-for-internet-providers/

Of course a mystery website attacking city-run broadband was run by an ISP. Of course • The Register

Cable biz Fidelity Communications has been forced to admit it was behind an astroturfing campaign against a city-run fiber network in America's Midwest.....
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/07/fidelity_astroturf_city_broadband/

San Jose mayor quits Trump broadband panel: 'The administration is in the pocket of the telecom industry' -- Raw Story

The mayor of San Jose, California quit a Federal Communications Commission advisory panel on broadband internet Thursday — and blasted the Trump administration on his way out the door. As The Mercury News reported, Mayor Sam Liccardo quit the FCC broadband advisory board because he believes the panel serves the telecom industry over the public. ....
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/san-jose-mayor-quits-trump-broadband-panel-administration-pocket-telecom-industry/

Comcast Jacks up Price of Standalone Broadband to $75 | DSLReports, ISP Information

Wall Street analysts have been rather excited about the fact that a lack of competition in the market means Comcast should be able to significantly raise rates without much repurcussion, especially now that the Trump FCC has made its apathy to the broadband market's competition problem abundantly clear. And Comcast began following through this month, warning customers across numerous markets that they'll soon be seeing increases in broadband and TV prices, and paying Comcast significantly more money in random fees and hardware rental surcharges each month.....
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Jacks-up-Price-of-Standalone-Broadband-to-75-140939

Now That The FCC Is Doing Away With Title II For Broadband, Will Verizon Give Back The Taxpayer Subsidies It Got Under Title II? | Techdirt

Now that the FCC has done as it said it was going to do and declared that broadband internet is properly classified under Title I of the Communications Act, rather than Title II, I'm left wondering if taxpayers will be getting back all the subsidies that we provided Verizon, AT&T and others when they claimed that their broadband networks should be classified under Title II in order to qualify for those subsidies. You may recall that we wrote about this three years ago, highlighting multiple examples where Verizon specifically begged for Title II classification of its fiber-to-the-premise networks in multiple cities to guarantee that it would get these subsidies.....
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171219/17150338850/now-that-fcc-is-doing-away-with-title-ii-broadband-will-verizon-give-back-taxpayer-subsidies-it-got-under-title-ii.shtml

Open thread for night owls: Koch Brothers fund corporate foes of municipal broadband projects

Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard Law School, is the author of The Responsive City and Captive Audience. At Wired, she writes—Koch Brothers Are New Obstacle to Cities’ Broadband. The case of Louisville, Kentucky, is examined. An excerpt:....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/16/1725125/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Koch-Brothers-fund-corporate-foes-of-municipal-broadband-projects

Americans Taxed $400 Billion For Fiber Optic Internet That Doesn't Exist | National Economics Editorial

South Korea is the poster child for high-speed internet: its fixed-connection and mobile download speeds are consistently among the fastest in the world, and its capital city, Seoul, is completely saturated with Wi-Fi. How did they do it? Being densely populated helped: it’s easier and cheaper to wire-up crowded cities than empty countrysides. But the key element was the government’s pro-broadband policies. Not only did they open up the market for competition among internet service providers, but they also invested in hard infrastructure.....
https://nationaleconomicseditorial.com/2017/11/27/americans-fiber-optic-internet/

Fact check: Net-neutrality claims leave out key context - Chicago Tribune

Seeking to dispel "myths" about net neutrality, the Trump administration's telecom chief instead put out his own incomplete and misleading talking points when he suggested that internet providers had never influenced content available to their customers before neutrality rules took effect in 2015.....
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/factcheck/ct-net-neutrality-fact-check-20171204-story.html

Michigan Introduces New, Awful Bill to Ban Community Broadband | DSLReports, ISP Information

Michigan is the latest state to try and pass a law supported by (and likely written by) incumbent ISPs that tries to prevent communities from building their own broadband networks.....
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Michigan-Introduces-New-Awful-Bill-to-Ban-Community-Broadband-140544

FCC’s claim that one ISP counts as “competition” faces scrutiny in court | Ars Technica

FCC should be forced to reinstate price caps in business broadband, groups say.....
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/fccs-claim-that-one-isp-counts-as-competition-faces-scrutiny-in-court/