Total Pageviews

Saturday, July 02, 2011

FCC to actually publish neutrality rules; EC to try self-regulation

On Thursday, the FCC finally sent its December 2010 rules to the Office of Management and Budget, which sends them on to the Federal Register. So they'll be published in August/September (in time for TPRC) - and then challenged in court, sans doute. The main immediate requirement is for fixed (not wireless) companies to publish speeds and blocking/throttling policies, and hopefully this means BITAG will finally get to check its usefulness (it must have been lonely).
Meanwhile the European Commissioner awaits the self-regulatory Code that industry apparently agreed to in private talks in March. One hopes it's more effective than the UK example which continues to perplex Tim Berners Lee, given that it's not net neutrality, simply transparency.
In truth, both the Eurocrats and FCC are nudging ISPs to ensure self-regulation bites, by ensuring net neutrality lite. That goes only partway to dealing with the problem...I obviously would prefer they use co-regulation and keep everybody honest.

No comments: