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FCC Reminds ISPs That They Can Be Fined For Lacking Transparency
An anonymous reader writes The FCC issued a notice on Wednesday reminding ISPs that, according to the still-intact transparency rule of the 2010 Open Internet Order, they are required to be transparent about their services. "The FCC's transparency rule requires that consumers get the information they need to make informed choices about the broadband services they purchase." Applicable scenarios include "poorly worded service offers or inaccurate counts of data against a data cap...[as well as] blocking or slowing certain types of traffic without explaining that to the customer." The transparency rule gives the FCC the power to fine ISPs for non-compliance.
Lots of talk about from that from this Administration , that but it's all very opaque from the President on down.
About time, now will the actually follow through with it.
-- Let Random be Random
If this order still stands, why hasn't the FCC fined practically every ISP under this rule? Plenty of ISPs were (and some still are) throttling YouTube, and I don't think I saw a single notice from the ISPs themselves about it. I would think that YouTube counts as a "certain type of traffic" for the purposes of this rule.
It's refreshing to see that the FCC can and does behave like a regulatory agency. Despite all the "discussion" over Net Neutrality and all the maneuvers that appear to fly in the face of what consumers and end users want, this is a move that makes sense. Forgive my overt cynicism, but I can't ignore the fact that the individuals heading the FCC in recent years have all been former CEOs of the telcos they have been trying to *cough* regulate. There have been apt analogies by John Oliver that leaving these folks to runn the FCC is akin to "leaving the dingo to watch the baby."
In a logical market, the consumer's wants and needs are supposed to be what drives the market. If a customer wants a smartphone, it should be a device provided at the point of sale with a cellualr service. Customers do not want the bloatware that the telcos push on them. From a network security standpoint, there is nothing more frustrating than apps that just appear on the device without customer interaction. Telcos have become too greedy for thier own good and it is simply a matter of time before the trend in business of "self-regulation" will fail to work. Arguably, and across multiple industries, it already has.
Perhaps this might be helpful to Enhanced IP? e.g. a very new alternative protocol to IPv6. (www.enhancedip.org)
Perhaps they're also trying to send a message to consumers to not suffer illegal charges in silence. The FCC can't audit every single bill that an ISP sends to it's customers to see if it's in line with that ISP's advertisements, but consumers are hopefully pretty conscious of what they're paying for internet service. How many people do you know who, when faced with an egregious bill for internet or cell phone service, send a letter to the FCC?
Election fundraising season is close to the end and certain politicians need more money. This is just extortion -- nice ISP you have there; would be a shame if you had some FCC trouble.
fines the FCC when they are not transparent?
"Peace In Our Time."
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
...that they aren't doing anything about net neutrality.
Lots of posters are asking why ISPs are not getting fined... why the FCC hasn't done anything... and nobody's asked the important question: "What CAN the FCC actually do?"
This article by CommLaw (really great outfit that analyzes communication, broadband, ISP, VoIP, and carrier law) puts it in great perspective:
http://www.commlawblog.com/tag...
The FCC is unable to regulate ISPs since they deregulated them and declared them not to be common carriers. The reason that the FCC won't make ISPs be common carriers is (as has been discussed before countless times) the incumbent carriers DON'T WANT the ISPs to get the privileges (and lower rates) of being carriers... so they lobby hard to prevent anyone else from being carriers.
That leaves the FCC in the position of putting out these stupide "reminder memos" because they really have no enforcement actions to take. That's why they've done nothing.
Ehud
they mean LITTLE isps who don't bow down will be forced to be extra transparent..
but our good friends over at comcast, time warner and the other big guys... you keep fucking people however you want.