By Rich Nesin, General Manager and Resident Philosopher, HomePNA
With all the energy devoted to IPTV, OTT and the other neat stuff that is driving innovation in home entertainment (and home networking), you, like me, probably took net neutrality for granted. Not so. The US Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to require broadband service providers to treat all Internet traffic flowing over their networks the same. Apparently Congress hasn’t passed a law giving it to them.
One possible solution, according to the free press, is that Congress will pass laws allowing the FCC to regulate broadband service providers. They go further to speculate that “in the meantime, the FCC must use the tools at its disposal - including reclassifying broadband transmission as a telecommunications service - to protect consumers from anti-competitive behavior”.
Verizon, Time Warner, AT&T, NCTA and others call that idea a "profound mistake" that will lead to years of litigation and could, according to the Progress and Freedom Foundation, “send investors running and thereby undermine all the effort the FCC has put into developing its National Broadband Plan”. I wonder if it's too late to apply to law school.
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