I think this an interesting article regarding access to the internet and the FCC. I don't know if any of you have heard of the "net neutrality" stuff that has been discussed in the past year or so?
Also, I just put in a home theater system. The blue ray player has internet access. I download purchased or rented videos from Amazon.com and it streams to my blueray player. It also works with Picassa Web albums and Youtube. Some Blu-Ray's have "BD Live" content. They are special features that are only enabled when you have internet access.
Unfortunately, the player I have doesn't support NetFlix. I wish it did. Their SlingBox product is rather expensive considering it doesn't do anything else, and I don't like uni-taskers. I was a little disappointed when I realized I had just gained a new way to spend money just by clicking a button.
I wonder if they will try to regulate it since the web is integrating with traditional cable viewing?
Here is the article:
FCC looks at ways to assert authority over Web access
By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 15, 2010; A22
The Federal Communications Commission is considering aggressive moves to stake out its authority to oversee consumer access to the Internet, as a recent court hearing and industry opposition have cast doubt on its power over Web service providers.
The FCC, which regulates public access to telephone and television services, has been working to claim the same role for the Internet. The stakes are high, as the Obama administration pushes an agenda of open broadband access for all and big corporations work to protect their enormous investments in a new and powerful medium.
"This is a pivotal moment," said Ben Scott, director of policy at the public interest group Free Press. The government wants to treat broadband Internet as a national infrastructure, he said, like phone lines or the broadcast spectrum. But federal regulators are grappling with older policies that do not clearly protect consumers' access to the Web, their privacy or prices of service.
The issue may have reached a turning point last week when a federal appeals court questioned the limits of the FCC's authority in a 2008 case involving Comcast. The agency had ordered the Internet and cable giant to stop blocking subscribers' access to the online file-sharing service BitTorrent. But in an oral hearing last Friday, three judges grilled an FCC lawyer over whether the agency had acted outside the scope of its authority.
The appeals court is still hearing the case, but analysts predict that the FCC will lose and that the ruling could throw all of its efforts to oversee Internet access into question. A loss could undermine the legality of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's push for policies that would prohibit service providers from restricting customers' access to legal Web content -- the concept known as net neutrality -- and throw into doubt the agency's ability to oversee pricing and competition among Internet service providers.
Article continues...
http://tinyurl.com/yesvgza
1 comment:
This is a very interesting article. I find that because so many people are guilty of crimes such as piracy and file sharing, this should require some sort of regulation.
On the other hand, I think it will be incredibly difficult to come up with a compromise. If the Internet usage of consumers is limited or monitored, I believe the foundations of free-thinking knowledge will cease to exist. In China, a communist country, you will find that information is limited and monitored online.
The FCC have their hands full in regard to creating Internet regulations, it will be interesting to see how it unfolds in the years to come.
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