open internet

We were wondering when our elected officials would start realizing just how toxic SOPA and PIPA had become.

It appears it's happening today, along with the online protests. Rep. Lee Terry, from Nebraska -- who just last week expressed some concerns about the bill at CES, but still appeared committed to it -- has announced that he's removing his name as a co-sponsor of the bill, becoming the first House Representative to do so.

The Danish Ministry of Justice has put forth a proposal that would effectively make it much more difficult for anyone to use the internet anonymously.

Specifically, if adopted, the plan would require that anyone offering open internet access to users would first have to confirm each user's identity, and then (of course!) record all sorts of info such as IP addresses, browser histories and records of who the user interacted with.

How will we know if the open Internet has been replaced by something else? Is the FCC's proposed distinction between the 'Net and "specialized services" the tool we need?

Steve Wozniak and 32 other engineers, programmers, and developers think so.

Net neutrality crusaders are cautiously relieved following news that the FCC plans to pursue some kind of Open Internet regulation, after all.

But they're still waiting for the fine print before they pop the champagne.

As expected, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski delivered a speech this morning in Washington DC outlining the case for formal Net Neutrality legislation, or what he calls “the free and open Internet.”

OnePeople: "In other words, they are putting every producer and broadcaster (which includes individuals) of video on the web in a position where they must pay rent to the MPEG LA consortium."