electronista.com
The FCC has quietly made the decision today to reclassify Internet access as a telecommunication service that would be subject to tougher net neutrality rules. Although rumors had spread of the agency backtracking on its promise, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is now said to be readying a proposal that would put Internet lines under the same Title II “common carriage” rules as phone lines, requiring providers to treat data equally on the network.
http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/05/05/fcc.decides.to.toughen.internet.fairness/
5/6/10
Statement of Commissioner Copps on Chairman Genachowski’s Announcement to Reclassify Broadband.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/recentReleases.do
The Third Way: A Narrowly Tailored Broadband Framework
http://www.broadband.gov/the-third-way-narrowly-tailored-broadband-framework-chairman-julius-genachowski.html
Under a new FCC rule, anyone who uses a wireless microphone that operates in the 700 MHz Band will have to stop operating their wireless microphone by June 12, 2010. To see if this law affects your wireless microphone, check our Manufacturers Equipment list.
Why did the FCC make this rule?
Certain wireless microphones have operated in frequencies that are needed for public safety. When these microphones were first designed, the frequencies they used were in between the frequencies that television stations used to broadcast television programs. With the completion of the digital television (DTV) transition on June 12, 2009, television stations no longer use the frequencies between 698 and 806 MHz (the 700 MHz Band) for broadcast. These frequencies are now being used by public safety entities (such as police, fire and emergency services) and by commercial providers of wireless services (such as wireless broadband services).
The wireless microphones that had been operating in the old TV broadcast channels can cause harmful interference to these public safety and wireless consumer services. Therefore, all users of wireless microphones (or certain low power auxiliary stations) that operate on any of the frequencies in the 700 MHz band – including both licensed users (under Part 74) and unlicensed users – now have to stop operating in this band.
The FCC is only prohibiting the use of wireless microphones that operate in the 700 MHz Band. You may continue to use wireless microphones that operate on other broadcast frequencies. Microphones with cords are not affected by the FCC’s decision.
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/
FCC Order (PDF)
by certifiedbug on September 22, 2009
in News
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski
The Brookings Institution, Washington DC
Fifth Principle of Non-Discrimination
The fifth principle is one of non-discrimination — stating that broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications.
This means they cannot block or degrade lawful traffic over their networks, or pick winners by favoring some content or applications over others in the connection to subscribers’ homes. Nor can they disfavor an Internet service just because it competes with a similar service offered by that broadband provider. The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed.
Sixth Principle of Transparency
The sixth principle is a transparency principle — stating that providers of broadband Internet access must be transparent about their network management practices.
Why does the FCC need to adopt this principle? The Internet evolved through open standards. It was conceived as a tool whose user manual would be free and available to all. But new network management practices and technologies challenge this original understanding. Today, broadband providers have the technical ability to change how the Internet works for millions of users — with profound consequences for those users and content, application, and service providers around the world.
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