Net Neutrality Advocates To FCC: Put the Kibosh On Internet Freebies (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader cites a CNET report:Net neutrality advocates demand action. Representatives from Fight the Future, the Center for Media Justice and Free Press on Friday hand-delivered a 6-foot tall package containing 100,000 letters of complaint to the Federal Communications Commission. They ask the agency to take action against AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile and Verizon for violating the agency's Open Internet order by offering so-called zero-rating service plans. While the practice offers some benefits to customers, critics say it violates the agency's Net neutrality principles, which requires all services on the internet be treated the same. They claim it puts smaller competitors at a disadvantage and highlights the fact that data caps are unnecessary. Carriers say they are simply experimenting with new business models that will make their service more affordable for consumers.

Comments

Here we go!

[mveloso]

Now the "net neutrality" supporters are going to screw everyone with their demands that anything that isn't crappy, lowest-common-denominator service is a rule violation.

Re:Binge on

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

The issue is they get to pick and choose which services they allow a zero rating on. If that doesn't worry you a lot, then consider that the other major players offer television and phone service as well. It is so easy to imagine Comcast saying "oh, gee, Netflix isn't meeting our criteria. Sorry. But, hey, our streaming service is better anyway..."

Re:Binge on

[mrchaotica]

But I was under the impression that any provider could opt in or out of the program once they met the technical criteria for the reduced bitrate streams.

First of all, that "technical criteria" is way too vague to be useful in actually implementing a Binge-On-compliant service. Second, it still requires that the content provider in question "partner" (i.e., create a business agreement) with T-Mobile. What they need is a specific set of technical requirements such that anyone running a web server can configure it in a certain way and the content will automatically qualify for the program, with no business agreement required.