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    I've changed my mind about the repeal of Net Neutrality (The Open Internet Order)

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    • B
      bigbear
      last edited by

      2. Four years ago, the Commission adopted open Internet rules to protect and promote the
      “virtuous cycle” that drives innovation and investment on the Internet—both at the “edges” of the
      network, as well as in the network itself. In the years that those rules were in place, significant
      investment and groundbreaking innovation continued to define the broadband marketplace. For example,
      according to US Telecom, broadband providers invested $212 billion in the three years following
      adoption of the rules—from 2011 to 2013—more than in any three year period since 2002.

      Would come back and add notes on what those rules were with links, and some of the issues that emerged which led to NN.

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      • B
        bigbear
        last edited by

        3. Likewise, innovation at the edge moves forward unabated. For example, 2010 was the
        first year that the majority of Netflix customers received their video content via online streaming rather
        than via DVDs in red envelopes. Today, Netflix sends the most peak downstream traffic in North
        America of any company. Other innovative service providers have experienced extraordinary growth—
        Etsy reports that it has grown from $314 million in merchandise sales in 2010 to $1.35 billion in
        merchandise sales in 2013. And, just as importantly, new kinds of innovative businesses are busy being
        born. In the video space alone, in just the last sixth months, CBS and HBO have announced new plans
        for streaming their content free of cable subscriptions; DISH has launched a new package of channels that
        includes ESPN, and Sony is not far behind; and Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks has
        announced a new over-the-top service providing bandwidth-intensive programming. This year, Amazon
        took home two Golden Globes for its new series “Transparent.”

        Just setting the stage here, mostly around the rise in Video and Online Stores

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        • B
          bigbear
          last edited by

          4. The lesson of this period, and the overwhelming consensus on the record, is that
          carefully-tailored rules to protect Internet openness will allow investment and innovation to continue to
          flourish. Consistent with that experience and the record built in this proceeding, today we adopt
          carefully-tailored rules that would prevent specific practices we know are harmful to Internet openness—
          blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization—as well as a strong standard of conduct designed to prevent
          the deployment of new practices that would harm Internet openness. We also enhance our transparency
          rule to ensure that consumers are fully informed as to whether the services they purchase are delivering
          what they expect.

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          • B
            bigbear
            last edited by

            5. Carefully-tailored rules need a strong legal foundation to survive and thrive. Today, we
            provide that foundation by grounding our open Internet rules in multiple sources of legal authority—
            including both section 706 of the Telecommunications Act and Title II of the Communications Act.
            Moreover, we concurrently exercise the Commission’s forbearance authority to forbear from application
            of 27 provisions of Title II of the Communications Act, and over 700 Commission rules and regulations.
            This is a Title II tailored for the 21st century, and consistent with the “light-touch” regulatory framework
            that has facilitated the tremendous investment and innovation on the Internet. We expressly eschew the
            future use of prescriptive, industry-wide rate regulation. Under this approach, consumers can continue to enjoy unfettered access to the Internet over their fixed and mobile broadband connections, innovators can
            continue to enjoy the benefits of a platform that affords them unprecedented access to hundreds of
            millions of consumers across the country and around the world, and network operators can continue to
            reap the benefits of their investments.

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            • B
              bigbear
              last edited by

              6. Informed by the views of nearly 4 million commenters, our staff-led roundtables,
              numerous ex parte presentations, meetings with individual Commissioners and staff, and more, our
              decision today—once and for all—puts into place strong, sustainable rules, grounded in multiple sources
              of our legal authority, to ensure that Americans reap the economic, social, and civic benefits of an open
              Internet today and into the future.

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              • B
                bigbear
                last edited by bigbear

                II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
                *7. The benefits of rules and policies protecting an open Internet date back over a decade
                and must continue.1
                Just over a year ago, the D.C. Circuit in Verizon v. FCC struck down the
                Commission’s 2010 conduct rules against blocking and unreasonable discrimination.2
                But the Verizon
                court upheld the Commission’s finding that Internet openness drives a “virtuous cycle” in which
                innovations at the edges of the network enhance consumer demand, leading to expanded investments in
                broadband infrastructure that, in turn, spark new innovations at the edge.3
                The Verizon court further
                affirmed the Commission’s conclusion that “broadband providers represent a threat to Internet openness
                and could act in ways that would ultimately inhibit the speed and extent of future broadband
                deployment.”

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                • B
                  bigbear
                  last edited by

                  8. Threats to Internet openness remain today. The record reflects that broadband providers
                  hold all the tools necessary to deceive consumers, degrade content, or disfavor the content that they don’t
                  like.5
                  The 2010 rules helped to deter such conduct while they were in effect. But, as Verizon frankly told
                  the court at oral argument, but for the 2010 rules, it would be exploring agreements to charge certain
                  content providers for priority service.6
                  Indeed, the wireless industry had a well-established record of trying to keep applications within a carrier-controlled “walled garden” in the early days of mobile
                  applications. That specific practice ended when Internet Protocol (IP) created the opportunity to leap the
                  wall. But the Commission has continued to hear concerns about other broadband provider practices
                  involving blocking or degrading third-party applications.

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                  • B
                    bigbear
                    last edited by

                    9. Emerging Internet trends since 2010 give us more, not less, cause for concern about such
                    threats. First, mobile broadband networks have massively expanded since 2010. They are faster, more
                    broadly deployed, more widely used, and more technologically advanced. At the end of 2010, there were
                    about 70,000 devices in the U.S. that had LTE wireless connections. Today, there are more than 127
                    million.7
                    We welcome this tremendous investment and innovation in the mobile marketplace. With
                    carefully-tailored rules in place, that investment can continue to flourish and consumers can continue to
                    enjoy unfettered access to the Internet over their mobile broadband connections. Indeed, mobile
                    broadband is becoming an increasingly important pathway to the Internet independent of any fixed
                    broadband connections consumers may have, given that mobile broadband is not a full substitute for fixed
                    broadband connections.8 And consumers must be protected, for example from mobile commercial
                    practices masquerading as “reasonable network management.” Second, and critically, the growth of
                    online streaming video services has spurred further evolution of the Internet.9
                    Currently, video is the dominant form of traffic on the Internet. These video services directly confront the video businesses of
                    the very companies that supply them broadband access to their customers.

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                    • B
                      bigbear
                      last edited by

                      10. The Commission, in its May Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, asked a fundamental
                      question: “What is the right public policy to ensure that the Internet remains open?”11 It proposed to
                      enhance the transparency rule, and follow the Verizon court’s blueprint by relying on section 706 to adopt
                      a no-blocking rule and a requirement that broadband providers engage in “commercially reasonable”
                      practices. The Commission also asked about whether it should adopt other bright-line rules or different
                      standards using other sources of Commission authority, including Title II. And if Title II were to apply,
                      the Commission asked about how it should exercise its authority to forbear from Title II obligations. It
                      asked whether mobile services should also be classified under Title II.

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                      • B
                        bigbear
                        last edited by

                        11. Three overarching objectives have guided us in answering these questions, based on the
                        vast record before the Commission: America needs more broadband, better broadband, and open
                        broadband networks. These goals are mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive. Without an open
                        Internet, there would be less broadband investment and deployment. And, as discussed further below, all
                        three are furthered through the open Internet rules and balanced regulatory framework we adopt today.

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                        • B
                          bigbear
                          last edited by

                          12. In enacting the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Congress instructed expert agencies
                          conducting rulemaking proceedings to “give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule
                          making through submission of written data, views, or arguments.”13 It is public comment that cements an
                          agency’s expertise. As was explained in the seminal report that led to the enactment of the APA:

                          • list itemThe reason for [an administrative agency’s] existence is that it is expected to bring to its
                            task greater familiarity with the subject than legislators, dealing with many subjects, can
                            have. But its knowledge is rarely complete, and it must always learn the frequently
                            clashing viewpoints of those whom its regulations will affect.
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                          • B
                            bigbear
                            last edited by bigbear

                            13. Congress could not have imagined when it enacted the APA almost seventy years ago
                            that the day would come when nearly 4 million Americans would exercise their right to comment on a
                            proposed rulemaking. But that is what has happened in this proceeding and it is a good thing. The
                            Commission has listened and it has learned. Its expertise has been strengthened. Public input has
                            “improve[d] the quality of agency rulemaking by ensuring that agency regulations will be ‘tested by
                            exposure to diverse public comment.’”15 There is general consensus in the record on the need for the Commission to provide certainty with clear, enforceable rules. There is also general consensus on the
                            need to have such rules. Today the Commission, informed by all of those views, makes a decision
                            grounded in the record. The Commission has considered the arguments, data, and input provided by the
                            commenters, even if not in agreement with the particulars of this Order; that public input has created a
                            robust record, enabling the Commission to adopt new rules that are clear and sustainable.

                            A. Strong Rules That Protect Consumers from Past and Future Tactics that Threaten
                            the Open Internet

                            1. Clear, Bright-Line Rules

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                            • B
                              bigbear
                              last edited by bigbear

                              14. Because the record overwhelmingly supports adopting rules and demonstrates that three
                              specific practices invariably harm the open Internet—Blocking, Throttling, and Paid Prioritization—this
                              Order bans each of them, applying the same rules to both fixed and mobile broadband Internet access
                              service.

                              A person engaged in the provision of broadband Internet access service, insofar as such
                              person is so engaged, shall not block lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful
                              devices, subject to reasonable network management.

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                              • B
                                bigbear
                                last edited by

                                15. No Blocking. Consumers who subscribe to a retail broadband Internet access service
                                must get what they have paid for—access to all (lawful) destinations on the Internet. This essential and
                                well-accepted principle has long been a tenet of Commission policy, stretching back to its landmark
                                decision in Carterfone, which protected a customer’s right to connect a telephone to the monopoly
                                telephone network.

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