FCC

WASHINGTON, DC – Today a bill to expand community radio nationwide – the Local Community Radio Act – passed the U.S. Senate, thanks to the bipartisan leadership of Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ). This follows Friday afternoon’s passage of the bill in the House of Representatives, led by Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NE). The bill now awaits the President's signature.

On Sunday the Washington Post reported that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was "leaning towards" not reclassifying broadband, which would mean that the FCC would not have the right to regulate the Internet. If Genachowski makes this decision ultimately it would mean that communities would have to depend on the goodwill of Comcast, Verizon and other Internet Service Providers to regulate themselves… good luck with that.

On Tuesday, a U.S. Appeals Court ruled that the Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority to order Comcast to stop blocking peer-to-peer sharing on the Internet in the name of network management. While the ruling seems small, it has big implications. The basic message is that the FCC cannot enforce Network Neutrality, which is the principle that our corporate Internet Service Providers cannot block content or treat different pieces of content differently. The concern is that without network neutrality in place, companies like Comcast and Verizon will decide what we see, hear and read on the Internet, in much the same way that Fox News (The New Corporation) and NBC (Viacom... soon to be Comcast) do with our TV.

Three leaders in work at the cross section of civil rights and digital rights just wrote this piece on the issue of Net Neutrality and the digital divide. Its an important read especially with recent acts by Comcast in mind. Expect more in the future.

Originally posted over at Huffington Post