Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Senate Republican leaders Senator Roger Wicker, John Barrasso, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc Connell and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn take questions from the media regarding the upcoming budget battle on Capitol Hill In a big blow to the privacy of American internet users, President Donald Trump has signed a resolution to repeal the FCC rules that forced the ISPs to seek customers' consent before selling their browsing information. Lawmakers voted March 30 to overturn Federal Communication Commission rules that would have required Internet service providers to get customers permission before collecting data on web-browsing and app usage.
President Trump's FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, met with phone- and cable-industry lobbyists this week to unveil his plan to undermine the landmark Net Neutrality protections that were passed in 2015. According to media reports, Pai intends to repeal the Open Internet Order and replace it with voluntary agreements by internet service providers to maintain a yet-to-be-determined set of conditions.
The Republican-led Senate moved Thursday to undo Obama-era regulations that would have forced internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon to ask customers' permission before they could use or sell much of their personal information. Senators voted along party lines, 50-48, to eliminate the rules.
President Trump officially picked Pai on Monday to serve as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that reviews media mergers and broadcast licenses. The net neutrality rules, approved by the FCC in 2015 amid an outpouring of online support, are intended to keep the Internet open and fair.
Internet companies have stormed onto D.C.'s lobbying scene, opening up in-house shops and hiring established lobbyists to gain influence. Google, Amazon and Facebook increased their spending on Washington lobbyists over the last eight years and are closing the gap overall with the telecommunications industry, an older power in the capital.
Republicans poised to control the Federal Communications Commission next month said they'd revisit the net neutrality regulation "as soon as possible," laying out plans to address a rule they've opposed and that Democrats support. The statement Monday from Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly indicates that opponents of the rule such as top broadband providers AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. may not need to wait for Congress to grapple with the regulation that requires equal treatment of web traffic.
Comcast Corp. is facing more calls for information from Massachusetts elected officials who are concerned that the broadcast signal of its new NBC station in Boston won't reach some viewers. US Representatives Stephen Lynch and Joseph Kennedy III sent a letter to Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts Friday, asking whether people who do not subscribe to cable or satellite services and instead watch free television over the air will be unable to tune in to the new station next month.
AT&T Inc has announced it has agreed to buy Time Warner Inc for $85.4 billion , in the most significant move yet by a telecommunications company to acquire content to stream over its network to attract a growing number of online viewers. The biggest deal in the world this year will, if approved by regulators, give AT&T control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets.
Earlier this month the court halted the FCC's attempt to dismantle protectionist state broadband laws, which have been written and lobbied for by ISPs in 19 states to hinder municipal broadband expansion . The New York Times takes a look at how broadband providers like AT&T, Comcast and CenturyLlink refuse to upgrade many rural customers, but simultaneously are fighting to pass laws ensuring these towns can't upgrade themselves, either.
Last year the Federal Communications Commission [official website] passed new rules [JURIST report] that prevent service providers from offering speedier lands to those willing to pay extra. This caused controversy between businesses such as Google and Netflix with service providers like AT&T , Verizon and Comcast [company website].
Handing a big victory to everyday people, an appeals court Tuesday upheld the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules. The decision likely guarantees that the internet won't go the route of cable television, and that we will be the ones to decide what sites and services we use online -- not Comcast or AT&T.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the government's "net neutrality" rules that require internet providers to treat all web traffic equally. The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a win for the Obama administration, consumer groups and content companies such as Netflix that want to prevent online content from being blocked or channeled into fast and slow lanes.