Thursday, April 09, 2015

The First Net Neutrality Complaints Are Coming. The FCC’s regulations may soon get tested with complaints from Internet backbone companies.

The National Journal reports:
The Federal Communications Commission may have to soon consider the first disputes under its new net neutrality regulations, starting with a fight over Internet congestion and online video.

Cogent Communications, which controls parts of the Internet backbone, is preparing to file complaints to the FCC, charging Internet service providers Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink with inappropriately degrading Internet traffic.

The complaints would mark a new phase in the long-running and fiercely controversial debate over the FCC's Internet regulations. Net neutrality has traditionally referred to the principle that Internet providers shouldn't block or manipulate traffic once it's on their networks. But the potential complaints from Cogent would instead focus on how those providers load traffic on to their networks in the first place.

In an interview, Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer warned that if the companies continue to refuse to provide their customers "with access to the entire Internet on an unfettered basis… we would have no choice but to file a complaint with the FCC under the Open Internet Order."
Conflict.