net neutrality

At the Facing Race Conference in Chicago, Malkia Cyril, Executive Director of the Center for Media Justice, made a powerful appeal for organizers and activists to see the fight for Net Neutrality and accessible and affordable broadband, as an important component of the fight for social and economic justice. Cyril explained, ""we must demand a framework for broadband policy that ensures equity and justice and includes, among others, direct broadband subsidies to low-income households, schools and libraries, protections for all other consumers especially those using broadband to call their loved ones in prisons or in other countries, and rules that codify free speech for those for whom that right has been systemically, consistently and historically denied."

The Internet as a Universal Service, the Conservative and Corporate Backlash, and the Struggle Over How We Communicate.

Lea en español abajo: El Internet como Servicio Universal, el contraataque corporativo, y la lucha por nuestra comunicación. 

For the past month the most important telecommunications platform of our time, the Internet, has gone without any form of regulation or government oversight. This situation didn't cause some downward spiral collapsing email and leading to tolls for visiting pages across the web - thank goodness. But, after the ruling in the Comcast Bit Torrent case an opening was presented for Broadband Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to brush off government authority. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C. ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) doesn't have the authority to impose regulation on ISPs. If this situation sticks ISPs have clearly stated what they intend to do - charge whatever they like for any content they like, while limiting traffic for those who don't pay high premiums.

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