WELCOME

"The FCC's failure to disclose that information to consumers raises

Jan. 18, 2017 by Kimberly Parks

"The FCC's failure to disclose that information to consumers raises serious concerns about the Commission's oversight of our telecom policy," the group said. "The FCC has a long history of providing information to consumers about how it operates, but the agency's failure to provide it to consumers raises serious questions about its ability to regulate broadband. It's time for a better future for the FCC and the United States."

The FCC does not, however, share any of the concerns raised by the Free Press.

"We expect the FCC to be cooperative with consumers in developing its broadband policy and to work closely with the other federal agencies and other stakeholders to address our concerns as they come to light," the agency said in an Oct. 21 news release.

"The FCC has engaged with our advocacy groups and other government entities concerned with broadband issues to ensure that they are prepared to participate in the Commission's public comment process on our broadband policy initiatives," the agency added.

As we pointed out in a June 2016 blog post, the FCC also did not provide broadband data to consumers of any of its other big Internet service providers such as Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. As a result, data from those two providers is not included in FCC broadband data.

"We have learned that these companies, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint, have taken steps to remove their advertising from broadband Internet access areas by removing the 'net neutrality' (net neutrality) rules and by removing their FCC-wide policy, which regulates the use of broadband Internet access services and has been widely adopted by major U.S. telecommunications companies," Verizon spokesperson Patrick Lynch told Ars.