Netflix has recently come forward to admit, after a protracted, finger-pointing match with Verizon and AT&T, they have in fact been throttling the speeds of these networks in order to protect customers from overage charges. Leading up to this confession, the Federal Communications Commission has been increasingly partial to controlling certain aspects of the Internet, … Continue reading
Every time you get a text message, watch a YouTube video, Google a question on your phone, or jam out to “97X BAM, the future of Rock n’ Roll”, you are utilizing the radio spectrum. As the fuel for essentially all communication between connected devices, everything, from the free WiFi you enjoy at Starbucks, to … Continue reading
Now that the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) so-called Open Internet Order (OIO) has finally been released, we can begin to assess where we go from here. Besides the numerous reasons why the FCC’s decision is bad policy, it is also unconstitutional. The OIO is a violation of the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment. The … Continue reading
In modern America the airwaves are continuously flooded with waves that we cannot see. Radio waves carry signals for everything from smartphones to televisions using bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The use of spectrum for communication has a long and thorny history going back to the first radio broadcasters. Like any form of communication, the … Continue reading
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has seemed to make its mission of late to trample over property rights in the name of “public interest.” Nowhere is this propensity more clear than in its recent moves on net neutrality and the blocking of Wi-Fi by private entities. In the coming days, the FCC will probably designate … Continue reading
As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prepares to expand its regulatory reach to encompass internet providers under Title II of the Communications Act, many have objected that the measure will reduce investment needed to expand overall broadband capacity. The new order will increase uncertainty both about what shape enforcement of the rules will actually take … Continue reading
During the past two weeks, one of the most catching statements on the American Internet service came from Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Chairman stated that Americans lack real choices among Internet service providers (ISP), with fewer than one in four American homes having access to two or more ISPs … Continue reading
“Everything is amazing right now and nobody’s happy.” Few things are truer than that we, as humans, fail to appreciate the present moment. Regardless of how bad the “good ole days” were factually, we hang on to the notion that simpler technology equates to simpler needs, simpler problems, and simpler living. While being lost in … Continue reading
One cannot discuss Net neutrality these days without stumbling across the centuries-old legal concept of “common carriage.” As with all antediluvian models of the world, time invites decline and eventual replacement. And So The World Begins Common carriage is a rather deceptively simple idea: a service provided by a private company to any market participant … Continue reading
The Net Neutrality debate was broadcast to a huge new audience last week when John Oliver called on his viewers to tell the FCC to keep the Internet free and open. Right now, the FCC is deciding whether or not to place the Internet under Title II regulations, which would place it under greater government … Continue reading
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