[ NNSquad ] Senator introduces bill to regulate data caps

[Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>]

http://j.mp/WsEW28  (ars technica)

    Wyden hopes to address three issues with his proposal. First, he wants
    to increase the amount and accuracy of information provided to
    consumers. His bill empowers the Federal Communications Commission to
    regulate ISPs' methods for measuring bandwidth usage with an eye to
    improving their accuracy. And it requires ISPs to provide their
    customers with realtime tools for tracking their usage and comparing
    them with the ISP's established caps.  Second, the bill requires that
    any data caps employed by ISPs function to "reasonably limit network
    congestion without unnecessarily restricting Internet use." According
    to a statement released with the legislation, "some data caps are so
    blunt that they may work to discourage Internet use even when doing so
    has no bearing on network congestion."  The most ambitious part of the
    legislation is a kind of network neutrality rule. It requires that any
    data cap (which is defined to include metering schemes) not be used to
    "provide preferential treatment of data that is based on the source or
    content of the data." That would ban a practice that is frequently
    mentioned by advocates of network neutrality regulation: the creation
    of a paid "fast lane."

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--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
 - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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