Net Neutrality Watcher: February 2010

In Spectrum Auction, Winners Are AT&T, Verizon and Openness

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"The prospect for more openness is potentially a meaningful victory for the long-term. I certainly don’t think this has any near-term consequences," says Cantor Fitzgerald’s Brown.

FCC Hearing: Rob Topolski on Comcast TCP Resets

The engineer who found that Comcast was RESETTING connection of its subscribers that use the torrent network even for legal uses!!!

FCC Backs Net Neutrality

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski delivered Monday on President Obama’s promise to back “net neutrality.” But he went much further than merely seeking to expand rules that prohibit ISPs from filtering or blocking net traffic — he proposed that they cover all broadband connections, including data connections for smartphones.

FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules, Now the Fight Begins

The FCC approved strong openness rules for wired and wireless broadband connections to the internet Thursday, leaving the details of the rules open to public debate for the next 60 days. The move will gratify President Obama’s grassroots supporters and internet services like Google, but draw the wrath of large telecoms like AT&T and the wireless industry.

The FCC’s five commissioners unanimously agreed to expand and codify rules from 2005 that require cable and DSL providers to allow their customers to use whatever devices or online services they want so long as they don’t hurt the network. A similar rule applied to AT&T’s phone monopoly in the 1960s led to the fax machine, the football phone and the internet.