skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Free Internet Setback? Net Neutrality Defenders Plan Pushback

play audio
Play

Friday, April 25, 2014   

NEW YORK – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has signaled his intention to allow broadband Internet service providers such as Comcast or Time Warner Cable to charge content providers, including ESPN and Netflix, higher prices for faster download speeds.

Internet freedom activists say creating the equivalent of fast lanes for some customers violates the principle of net neutrality, which also means net discrimination.

Josh Levy, campaign director of the media advocacy group Free Press, calls it a huge threat to a free Internet.

"The only way to stop it is to organize and to channel everybody's anger and energy towards an effort to get the FCC to scrap those rules," he maintains.

Between now and May 15, when the Commission will formally act, a raft of public interest groups is plotting pushback efforts that include petitions, pressure on members of Congress and public protests.

Andrew Rasiej, chairman of New York Tech Meetup, says he and his members are evaluating the threat level of the FCC move.

"One thing is for sure: the open Internet as a platform for innovation is slowly being whittled away by moneyed interests and incumbent market forces who have deep pockets," he maintains.

Levy says initially, his group is urging people to sign petitions and call members of Congress.

"This is all about pressure focused on the FCC,” he stresses. “Whether that pressure's coming directly from the public or from Congress, it needs to happen and they need to hear it, loud and clear."

Rasiej says the daylong shutdown of the Internet two years ago in protest of proposed copyright legislation may or may not have to be repeated.

"The attack on the Internet back in 2012 was a stranglehold around the throat,” he says. “The Internet is not going to die from a stranglehold. It’s going to die from a thousand little cuts – the open Internet, that is – and this is a pretty deep gash."





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021