FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said last month that, given the chance, he would take the opportunity to closely examine state laws that prevent communities from owning their own broadband. Now with two complaints filed with the FCC from North Carolina and Kentucky, the FCC has decided to ask the public what it should do with a public comment period.

AARP said in a press release today targeting New York's elderly population that "Internet fast lanes" for a fee being considered by the Federal Communications Commission would leave "older New Yorkers in the dust online."

More than one million Americans left comments for the FCC on a proposal by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that would allow service providers to charge content providers a reasonable fee for better access to its customers.

In a recent filing with the FCC by The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (which represents Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and other broadband providers throughout the U.S.) the trade groups claims that ISPs are worried that Netflix will start charging them for access. Ironically Comcast and Verizon are currently in deals with Netflix to provider faster access to their customers.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received two petitions this week asking the federal agency to overturn state laws that specifically limit or ban broadband built and operated by municipalities. One of the petitions is from the city of Wilson, North Carolina and the other from the EPB of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In June FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that something had to be done about these kinds of laws; there are currently 20 states that have passed laws limiting or prohibiting broadband networks run by cities and towns.

While it will come as no surprise to anyone paying attention to proposed changes to the 2010 Open Internet Order (Net Neutrality rules) put forth by chairman Tom Wheeler, the FCC has confirmed that over one million people submitted comments during the public comment period so far.

The deadline to submit comments ends tonight at Midnight.

According to a tweet from Gigi Sohn, Special Counsel for External Affairs, Office of the Chairman, more than 1 million people have now submitted comments on net neutrality.

In its filing with the FCC about Chairman Wheeler's proposal to allow ISPs to charge content providers for faster direct access to customers, AT&T said it supports the ban of fast lanes... as long as there are some major loopholes. Naturally these loopholes would benefit AT&T's broadband and wireless businesses.

AT&T, like Comcast, is taking an amicable position because it wants the FCC and other government regulatory agencies to approve its merger with DirecTV (in Comcast's case it is seeking approval for a merger with Time Warner Cable).

In a new filing with the FCC, Verizon claims that if broadband providers are classified as common carrier under Title II of the Communications Act, they will be forced to charge web services and web sites. It is quite a claim, and one that has been debunked by experts, but that isn't stopping Verizon from pushing the issue.

US Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has always been opposed to the FCC regulating anything, but she has been particularly outspoken about the FCC's Open Internet Order since it was introduced in 2010. To that point, Rep. Blackburn recently said that she wants to make sure the FCC never interferes with "states' rights" to protect private Internet service providers from having to compete against municipal broadband networks.

In a lengthy public comment to the FCC on net neutrality, Comcast said that it "would not be opposed" to a new standard (proposed by chairman Tom Wheeler and tentatively approved by an FCC vote) in which paid prioritization arrangements are considered commercially unreasonable unless proven otherwise. Comcast wrote:

The Federal Communications Commission was forced to extend the deadline for comments today after the public, interest groups, and others flooded the agency websites with comments today and caused it to crash. Now the public will have until midnight on Friday to comment on the agency’s controversial fast-lane net neutrality proposal. Those who haven't already can file a comment by sending an email to openinternet@fcc.gov to weigh in on the proposal. Anyone who wants to respond to initial comments filed with the FCC has until September to file additional comments.

A group of more than two dozen companies doing business in the tech and Internet space have asked the Federal Communications Commission to create strong and enforceable net neutrality rules.

The companies, who are members of The Internet Association, include Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Netflix. The groups say that they want to prevent the segregation of the Internet into fast lanes and slow lanes because it would distort the market, discourage innovation and harm Internet users.

Anyone against the proposed mergers between Time Warner Cable and Comcast and AT&T and DirecTV should take some solace in the fact that some of the members of several review committees the Federal Communications Commission has put together will not be giving either merger a rubber stamp approval.

In an editorial published in The Huffington Post today, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) put pressure on the FCC to keep Internet service providers from blocking or slowing access to certain websites. In his editorial Leahy said that the Internet needs its own rules to protect liberties much like the Bill of Rights.

Lawmakers are not happy with the FCC's proposal to allow broadband providers to charge content providers extra money for faster access to their customers. This supposed fast lane approach has rubbed lawmakers the wrong way, according to The Wrap, prompting them to push legislation that bans "paid prioritization."

A web site dedicated to helping game developers include accessibility options for disabled players into their games has been honored by the FCC's Accessibility and Innovation Initiative. The site, "Game Accessibility Guidelines" (www.gameaccessibilityguidelines.com), was launched in Sept. of 2012 and has helped bring accessibility options to games of all shapes and sizes - from AAA titles to indie offerings.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has launched dearfcc.org, a web site that gives the Internet community at large a simple way to give the FCC a piece of their mind concerning net neutrality (or the Open Internet Order). You may have heard that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has put forth a proposal that would allow broadband providers like Comcast and Time Warner Cable to charge content providers for faster access to their customers (commonly referred to as selling them on "faster lanes" for internet traffic).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says that state laws seeking to stop community-run broadband initiatives have to be dealt with, but he has not said how the agency plans to take on the thorny issue. In at least 20 states there are already legal restriction in place to thwart municipal broadband networks. Many of these laws or regulations were put in place with the help of campaign cash from ISPs, telecom companies (both regional and national) and trade groups representing these industries.

The battle for net neutrality is heating up, as the Federal Communications Commission finds that the public's opinion seems to be strongly against the agency's plans to allow ISPs to charge online content providers for faster access to its customers.

Earlier this week Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH) filed legislation that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from attempting to regulate broadband Internet service as a public utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. While the legislation is more of a dramatic public show of support for the idea that the FCC should not have the power to regulate anything, it's also interesting because the Congressman is "bankrolled" by lobbyists for the telecommunications industry.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has released a new video comparing the Federal Communications Commission’s new plans for Internet "fast lanes" to "the laggiest game you’ve ever played." The video, made by animation firm Pixel Valley Studio, delivers the liberal group's call for members (and the Internet community at large) to sign a petition urging the FCC to reclassify the Internet as a public utility like telephone service.

On this week's show, hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discuss whether the unbundling of the Kinect will help Xbox One sales, the NPD Group's latest report on core gamer trends, and ISPs threatening to take their ball and go home if net neutrality passes. Download Episode 99 now: SuperPAC Episode 99 (1 hour, 5 minutes) 75 MB.

AT&T said yesterday that it would follow the FCC's old net neutrality rules for three years if the government approves its acquisition of DirecTV. It's a miracle. This is despite the fact that the D.C. circuit of the federal Appeals court basically put those rules out to dry, noting that the FCC didn't have the authority to regulate broadband service providers because they are not "common carrier" under Title II of the Telecommunications Act (Verizon v. FCC).

Despite being inundated with phone calls, emails, tweets, and posts on social media, the Federal Communications Commission has voted in favor of a preliminary proposal to allow broadband providers to charge content providers like Netflix an extra fee to prioritize traffic - a fast lane. Commissioners voted along party lines, with Republican commissioners voting against the proposal put forth by Democratic FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Two fellow Democratic Commissioners voted with Wheeler in a 3 for and 2 against final vote.

A new report from Sandvine (by way of Ars Technica reveals that that the average cord cutter is almost always near going over ISP imposed data caps. According to the firm's latest Global Internet Phenomena report released today (based on measurements in March), Internet users in the U.S.

The top Internet service providers in the United States have told the Federal Communications Commission that if new revisions to the Open Internet Order are passed by the FCC commissioners on Thursday, they will stop building out infrastructure and give up on innovation.

On this week's show hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discuss the latest GamePolitics Poll results (should Kickstarter adopt an equity-based investment model?), the web-hosting service that dared to throttle the FCC, the national Reason-Rupe poll about gaming, and the Tomodachi Life controversy. Download Episode 98 now: SuperPAC Episode 98 (1 hour, 8 minutes) 78 MB.

According to this Politico report, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is "scrambling" to save his controversial net neutrality plan as the commission heads towards a vote on Thursday. According to FCC officials, Wheeler has circulated a new series of revisions to the plan revealed last week - which would allow ISPs to charge content providers for "faster lanes" to customers.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal allowing for ISPs to charge for an Internet "fast lane" that would let Internet service providers charge Web services for priority access to consumers is ticking consumers off, but some folks who have to do business on the Internet are not pleased about it either - and one company is doing something about it: Neocities web hosting service.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has decided not to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, which would open Internet service providers up to common carrier regulations under Title II of the Communications Act. Ignoring an important part of the Appeals court ruling (Verizon v. FCC) in the case it lost earlier this year (the court said the agency did not have jurisdiction under Title II to enforce the Open Internet Order), he decided to push ahead with a plan allowing service providers to charge content providers for faster lanes to the customer.

On this week's show hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discuss the latest poll on GamePolitics (how do you divvy up your Humble Bundle payments), FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and net neutrality, the 'New Essential Facts on Video Game Industry' report from the ESA, China's restrictions on game content released in the country, and the horrible story of a Call of Duty player who called a SWAT team on an opponent. Download Episode 96 now: SuperPAC Episode 96 (1 hour, 14 minutes) 85 MB.