The future of the FCC is fraught with uncertainty

,

I'm making politics relevant again!

Over the last 3 years, the FCC has been transformed by Tom Wheeler: Pushing ISPs for more neutrality, redefining the term broadband, and reclassifying ISPs as common carriers.

Under Trump, and whoever he puts in charge, the future of net neutrality in the States is uncertain, and could potentially backtrack to where it was 4 years ago.

The decisions made by the FCC have a knock-on effect to the rest of the world, influencing how other western governments manage their service providers. Frankly, I can't see net neutrality progressing under a government whose decisions will be heavily shaped by money, rather than social responsibility to keep the internet as open as possible.


Please refrain from going off topic, and be respectful to others even if they have different views.

10 Likes

Tom Wheeler is a boss. Hope net neutrality prevails for you Americans.

not to go all political, but i never really felt it was certain, i mean with the voting records for the freedom act(2014 and 2015) cispa being introduced by a repub, then reintroduced by a dem, kind of seems like all of them that are there want to screw us over

The internet is the only subject that The Donald worried me about, he never had a firm this-or-that statement

When Trump made rebuilding U.S. infrastructure one of his goals, I hoped and still hope that that goal includes internet infrastructure and services. It's the only thing that gave me pause for concern with him. He won in large part thanks to the prevalence of the internet. Hopefully he takes that to heart.

1 Like

Personal opinion here......

The differences between a Clinton administration and a Trump administration when it pertains to the internet I think we are going to be safer with Trump, policy-wise I think we will see less restrictions and more freedom, and the possibility of more fiber through less restrictions, I agree with @KemoKa73 that given the way Trump ran his campaign that he recognizes the power of the internet and the free flow of information has helped him get to the presidency, I'm optimistic that he will want to only make it more open not more restrictive.....I see that as the government helping spread more higher capacity bandwidth either with subsidies or outright adding fiber during infrastructure projects and as long as that isn't government owned fiber I have no problem with it.

Also Tom Wheeler has been kinda' a hit and miss head of the FCC, given his background he may have been a good choice based on his knowledge but I can't help but think he brought along a good amount of bias in favor of the cable industry..again just my opinion.

2 Likes

Making decisions that an FCC chairman, you need experience and knowledge of the industry you're dealing with, so you can do your job with out making uninformed decisions. Having someone with no knowledge of the industry in that position would lead to decisions being made that could negatively affect the industry in a large way.

Truthfully, I think Wheeler's stance was changed by Obama taking the populist standpoint, and pushing for more net neutrality.

3 Likes
1 Like

If you voted for Trump thinking that he would advocate for an open, free internet then you are going to be gravely disappointed.

6 Likes

Two sides to every coin....


I will admit he has done good given his roots....lol

*Reclassified fixed and mobile broadband as Title II common carrier services.Used Title II authority to impose net neutrality rules that forbid blocking, throttling, and giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment.

*Decided that content providers and network operators should be able to file complaints against ISPs about rates charged for network interconnection.

*Preempted state laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that prevent the expansion of municipal broadband providers.

*Raised the definition of broadband from 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream to 25Mbps/3Mbps, a move that helps justify further regulatory actions designed to promote competition (such as the municipal broadband decision).

*Refused to approve Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable.

*Pressured Sprint to abandon a potential acquisition of T-Mobile.Voted to create a software replacement for CableCard, forcing cable companies to make TV channels available to makers of third-party devices and software.

*Proposed a $100 million fine against AT&T, saying the company throttled unlimited data plans without adequately notifying customers about reduced speeds. (AT&T is trying to lower or eliminate the penalty.)

*Stepped up enforcement in general, with a $3.5 million fine against two small carriers that failed to protect the personal information of low-income customers; various fines against cellular carriers for bill cramming; a $40 million fine to TracFone for throttling and capping “unlimited” data; fines against hotel chains related to Wi-Fi blocking; and more.

*Pressured wireless carriers into unlocking cell phones so they can be used on competitors’ networks.

*Pressured Verizon Wireless into dropping a plan to throttle customers who pay for unlimited LTE data.

*Imposed new rules against robocalling over the objections of a lobby group that represents Google, Netflix, and other Web companies.Handed T-Mobile USA a victory in a fight against AT&T and Verizon Wireless over data roaming charges.

*Set limits on the amount of spectrum Verizon and AT&T can buy at an upcoming auction, boosting the chances of T-Mobile and other smaller carriers.

1 Like

Peter Thiel will be joining Trump's transition team to advise him on technology. I can only assume that means he will play a part in selecting Trump's FCC, or even potentially become chair of the FCC.

This seems like it will be both good and bad. Thiel is very pro-privacy which is an important issue. He's taken stands however, against carte blanche freedom of speech. Regarding net-neutrality? We can't rely on the government to enforce net neutrality. As consumers we need to vote with our wallets. Thankfully Trump seems to be against the big monopolies becoming even more powerful, like the Time Warner-AT&T merger, and hopefully that means our options will increase in terms of internet providers, enabling us to vote with our wallets for net neutrality.

1 Like

Clinton's campaign was lobbied and partial paid for by time Warner. I'm not sure if I had trusted her any more than Donald.

There's pause for concern for any new president though I believe. Let's just hope he does the right thing. I think he will.

How can we influence them to hire @wendell?

Or even a Wendell bot..

3 Likes

Oh you poor souls are in for 4 years of Republicans now. The most corporate friendly political party in existence. Internet is not the only thing that they will destroy.

1 Like

k

1 Like

the real qestion is who has more lobbying power? google, microrsoft, apple, amazon, and netflix or ISPs like verizon, at&t, time warner, and comcast.

you also need to remember if trump passes a anti-netnutrality bill how will he be able to get into twitter fights. since such a laws can easily push sites like twitter into bankruptcy. lol

FCC was created during the days of AM radio. It is even older then I am.
I hope it is shut down and the department of commerce watch, step in only if needed.

Let all cable companies compete and let each state decide infrastructure policy. Unleash 50 independent incubators of ideas. (Federalism)

Drop the anti-trust hammer on the big boys. Bust some of the biggest tech companies up. Standard oil was busted up. Why not bust up Standard Search, Standard OS and Standard Comcast. Comcast is not a monopoly but if you bust up the biggest guy in the schoolyard the other kids tend to behave better.
Declare the major news organizations Public Accommodations. Apply public accommodation rules according to ideology.
Bust up Time-Warner.....They already have two names:)

2 Likes

Honestly Trump is going to have a shit load of advisors to help him out. I don't think he'll really do anything to the grid or the internet of the US. He's pretty heavy on infrastructure.

Trump is only relevant in that the republicans in congress can now do what they're being paid to do. (I say republicans because they're the majority now. The democrats were just as guilty for signing the "internet freedom act", whilst taking "donations" from major ISP's)

We'll need MASSIVE public backlash to stop them. Enough to scare them into thinking that doing anything to the FCC would cause most of them to fail to get re-elected in two years.