Following the design of FDA food labels, these broadband labels will provide easy-to-understand, accurate information about the cost and performance of high-speed internet service to help consumers avoid junk fees, price hikes and other unexpected costs. Internet service providers selling home access or mobile broadband plans will be required to have a label for each plan beginning April 10.
For broadband internet service providers (ISPs), the current FCC is a lost cause, a total waste of time. In the end, they are counting on the courts for vindication, and they are probably making a smart bet. Even though the FCC acts as if nothing has changed, in fact a lot has changed in the legal arena. Last year, the Supreme Court issued a bombshell decision in West Virginia v. EPA that will make it arduous for an agency like the FCC to adopt consequential rules absent explicit authorization from Congress.
The FCC dismissed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) criticism of the agency’s chairman as “hot air,” after the Democratic presidential candidate accused him of advancing the interests of the telecom industry. The pushback comes in response to an op-ed the senator published in The Washington Post on Tuesday arguing for renewed federal efforts to expand internet access to areas that lack it.
