U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, renewed his push for "net neutrality" protections Thursday, following reports that many major U.S. mobile carriers may be "throttling," or slowing down, certain services on their networks.
Markey, who led the U.S. Senate push to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's rollback of net neutrality rules, said the findings from researchers behind the app "Wehe" underscore the need for the Obama-era internet rules.
US Senate votes to save 'net neutrality' protections
"Data collected through an app called Wehe shows that AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile all slowed down at least one video streaming service," he tweeted. "Given the opportunity, mobile carriers will discriminate against certain content and competitors. That's why we need net neutrality rules."
Data collected through an app called Wehe shows that AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile all slowed down at least one video streaming service. Given the opportunity, mobile carriers will discriminate against certain content and competitors. That's why we need #NetNeutrality rules. -- Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 15, 2018
Specifically, researchers found potential throttling on AT&T for YouTube, Netflix and NBC Sports; on Verizon for Amazon Prime, YouTube and Netflix; and on Sprint for YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Skype video calls, according to reports.
They further alleged "delayed throttling," or boosting, on T-Mobile for Netflix, NBC Sports and Amazon Prime.
In addition to pushing for net neutrality protections, Markey joined U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, in pressing executives with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile to detail whether they have implemented policies to "throttle" or prioritize internet traffic, if consumers can opt-out of such traffic differentiation and how the companies determine which network traffic receives faster or slower treatment.
Arguing that "all online traffic should be treated equally," the senators asked the companies to provide such information by Dec. 6.
The U.S. Senate, in a May vote forced by chamber Democrats, endorsed Markey's Congressional Review Act resolution to block implementation of the Federal Communications Commission-approved "Restoring Internet Freedom" order.
Markey turned to the CRA shortly after the FCC narrowly voted to repeal the 2015 net neutrality rules, which required companies providing broadband connections to act in the "public interest" and to not use "unjust" business practices -- preventing companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from creating paid "fast lanes" and slowing or blocking web traffic.
They further classified the internet as a "telecommunications service" subject to Title II of the 1934 Communications Act -- not an "information service," and reportedly sought to address legal ambiguity caused by previous open internet regulations that had been struck down by courts.
The new FCC rules sought to restore the classification of broadband internet access service as an "information service," among other things.
SnakeyRake on November 16th, 2018 at 16:17 UTC »
“Alleged”
It’s been proven.
I worked for a game company and we had over 500,000 clients running a throttling detection tool built into it and have quite a lot of data to prove it. We had the data down to the ASN source where we could tell which carriers were doing it.
Edit: https://www.sandvine.com/ was stated to be used by one of the big telecoms when I was conducting tests and discussed over an unofficial beer talk at the local pub with a friend of mine that worked at one of the questionable telecoms.
Edit: I'm no longer with the company that ran the tests. All the data is with them. Some of the data was published on NANOG.
Edit: There is/was a tool called Wehe that is supposed to detect throttling. Not sure if the ISPs/Mobile Carriers have countermeasures to detect use of the app. Doubtful if they aren't unique in emulating the traffic.
energexer on November 16th, 2018 at 16:02 UTC »
You know what's also relevant is that like UK regulations, US broadband providers need to start advertising their actual speeds offered instead of these ridiculousness overblown "max speeds" people take to be what they're actually paying for.
DudeImMacGyver on November 16th, 2018 at 15:35 UTC »
Yeah, there's lots of highlights for that need but our government doesn't seem to care very much. They don't even seem to be upset over the $400 BILLION DOLLARS ISPs effectively stole from the country. It's almost like they're bought and paid for.
Edit: Here come the downvote brigades and bots! Really, go fuck yourselves.