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By now, you know our stance on the FCC’s reported internet “fast lanes” proposal, laws that once passed, will give ISPs like Comcast or Time Warner the protection they need to charge internet companies for access to higher data speeds. Our own Rob Jackson wrote an opinion piece on the entire matter a few weeks back, calling the entire affair a “devastating blow to this open and awesome thing we call the internet.”
Today, in an open letter to the Federal Communications Commission, tech giants like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and of course, Netflix, or are coming out against the FCC’s proposal, all in an effort to keep the internet “free and open” for not only internet companies, but its users as well. The letter politely asks the FCC to turn away from their sin and instead of strangling the internet, help establish rules that protect users and internet companies against paid prioritization, while providing greater transparency for internet services.
The letter goes onto to talk about the internet’s role in entrepreneurship and economic growth, painting a dire picture of America’s future as one of the world’s leaders in technology markets should the FCC’s reported plans go into effect. The letter was singed by over 100 internet companies who rely on an open internet their internet for their businesses.
You can read the entire letter as well as check out the full list of signatures via the link below. Scary times we’re living in.
I don’t understand Netflix chiming in after the deal they signed with Comcast…
What option did Netflix have other than slow streaming?
I don’t think they were happy with having to pay Comcast money for faster service….
They had little choice but to pay the Comcast tolls. Comcast has way too many customers (even without the TW merger) for Netflix to be able to stick to their guns and refuse to pay.
It just gave these ISP’s more leverage is what I’m saying. “Look, here’s one big content provider that caved!”
What if Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Netflix joined forces to create a national ISP that is neutral? They have the money to do it.
I’d use it because fk comcast.
Google Fiber+ ?
Why am I not surprised that Apple is missing from the list of names?
Wonder how much Time Warner and Comcast and Verizon are paying the FCC for this fast lane bill to go through?
They’ll give up their first born for this to happen.
I signed the petition, but hardly anyone else did…
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/prevent-fcc-ruining-internet/bxsvYJSp
There is another that has gained more traction: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/maintain-true-net-neutrality-protect-freedom-information-united-states/9sxxdBgy
I also signed the petition, and got several friends to. But then I realized that it was a Phandroid petition rather than the really big petition that everyone else on earth was linking to, and felt like an idiot.
Someone needs to explain to the Phandroid folks how this whole internet thing works.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/restore-net-neutrality-directing-fcc-classify-internet-providers-common-carriers/5CWS1M4P this has even more and the Whitehouse responded to it.
Obvious problem with their response: The Whitehouse is trying to have it both ways. Obama is pretending to support net neutrality, while putting former telecom lobbyist Tom Wheeler in charge of the FCC.
Obama is clearly lying, or he wouldn’t have put someone with diametrically opposed ideas into that important position. Wheeler is now trying to pretend that he also supports net neutrality, but he fills each statement with so many weasel words that in the end, what he says is absolutely meaningless.
No former lobbyist should ever be allowed to hold any position in the government. It’s disgusting.
Isn’t the rumor Amazon cut a deal with AT&T to give their upcoming phone preferred data?
The Amazon rumors sound more like AT&T’s “sponsored data” which isn’t really “preferred data.”
FCC Chairman must have a really nice oversea’s house in France.