techpolicydaily.com

WASHINGTON – It has been talked about and debated for years. Now the Federal Communications Commission is making it official: Net Neutrality is a must for Internet carriers.

Genachowski

New FCC Chairman Julius  Genachowski, in his first major policy speech, declared that the FCC plans to take steps to prevent Internet providers such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others from discriminating against particular Internet content or  applications. It also will take steps to ensure that Internet access providers are transparent about the network management practices they implement – meaning Internet providers will have to let users know their specific rules and how they plan to enforce those rules when it comes to using their broadband pipes.

“This is not about government regulation of the Internet,” Genachowski said in prepared remarks. “It’s about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the Internet. We will do as much as we need to do, and no more, to ensure that the Internet remains an unfettered platform for competition, creativity, and  entrepreneurial activity.

“This is about  preserving and maintaining something profoundly successful and ensuring that it’s not distorted  or undermined,” he said. “If we wait too long to preserve a free and open Internet, it will be too late.”

See Genachowski’s full speech here.

Genachowski said the FCC will begin formulating its new net neutrality rules beginning next month, after seeking public comment. To facilitate what’s sure to be heated public debate, the FCC has opened an Web site at www.openinternet.gov.

Don’t expect the big Internet providers to be neutral on the issue of net neutrality. They want as much control as they can over who uses their broadband pipes, how much bandwidth they suck up and what they use it for. They’ve been lobbying the lawmakers and the FCC heavily in recent years – and that will only increase in the weeks to come.

How it all shakes out may change how Web-based companies – everybody from Google Inc. to the smallest of e-tailers – uses the Internet, how much they pay for it, and what they do with it.

WASHINGTON – In a case with implications to state and federal Internet privacy rules – and perhaps, what people post on their social networking sites – Virginia has backed off from trying to force Facebook to give up  information about a user’s account in a workers’ compensation claim case.

On Aug. 28, the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission began levying a $200 a day fine on Facebook for failing to comply with a subpoena to provide information on a Virginia flight attendant who filed a worker’s comp claim after tripping, falling and injuring her back getting off a Colgan Air regional jet at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport back in January.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the story here.  CNET’s Declan McCullah goes into more detail here about how private and public insurers are increasingly eyeing Facebook and other social networking sites when reviewing  insurance claims.

The gist of it comes down to the basic rule of social networking: Whatever you post on line may come back to haunt you later.

If you file a worker’s comp claim saying your hurt your back on the job, and then post on your Facebook page or Twitter about your big win on the basketball court or the ski trip to Aspen, insurers want to know about it.

While the Virginia case indicates states are willing to go only so far in getting back records from social networking sites, there’s little to keep government agencies, insurers – and everybody else – from seeing more recent records on what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

WASHINGTON – Telemarketers beware: Beginning Sept. 1,  “robocalls” are illegal.

A year after the Federal Trade Commission announced rules prohibiting prerecorded commercial telemarketing calls to consumers, it’s about to get serious and start fining violators up to $16,000 per call.

There are plenty exemptions. If the robocaller is delivering purely informational recordings – such as a notification of flight being canceled, for instance, that’s OK. So are calls from companies that consumers have agreed to take calls from (on opt-in agreements and elsewhere) as well as – of course – political campaign calls. See more on the new rule here.