thank ghu packet loss is not on it. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Louis Peraertz <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Nov 18, 2022 at 2:37 AM Subject: [WISPAMembers] FCC Adopts Broadband Consumer Label Rules To: <[email protected]>
Late yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published its Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) with regard to rules establishing broadband consumer labels. In 2021, the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) mandated that the FCC adopt rules requiring display of these labels by November 15, 2022. You can find the sample label, which the FCC requires fixed and mobile broadband service providers to display to consumers, at the end of this message, or on page 6 of the Order. Here is a link to the entire FCC Order and FNPRM: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-22-86A1.pdf. The rules will be effective six months after Federal Register publication of the Office of Management and Budget’s approval of the rules. There is, however, a significant win for the vast majority of WISPA members. Consistent with WISPA’s advocacy, the FCC decided that providers with 100,000 or fewer subscriber lines will have one year to comply with the new label requirements. In this message, we highlight for you other key aspects of the Order and FNPRM. For example, we identify requirements that are not readily apparent from the label and requests that the label contain other information which the FCC rejected. We encourage you to read the entire Order and FNPRM. Key Decisions In The Broadband Consumer Label Order Requirements Not Apparent From The Label The label requirement applies to “broadband Internet access service plans” because the IIJA directed the FCC to require the display of labels that disclose information regarding “broadband Internet access service plans.” For purposes of the IIJA,“broadband Internet access service” uses the same definition that the FCC previously adopted in section 8.1(b) of its rules: “a mass-market retail service by wire or radio that provides the capability to transmit data to and receive data from all or substantially all internet endpoints, including any capabilities that are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications service, but excluding dial-up internet access service.” The definition also “encompasses any service that the Commission finds to be providing a functional equivalent of the service” defined in the rules or that is used to evade the protections set forth in the rules. The broadband consumer label requirement does not apply to enterprise service offerings or special access services because those services are not “mass-market retail services,” and therefore, not covered by the label requirement. The Order emphasizes that where it does not modify or eliminate a transparency rule, which the FCC had previously established, that requirement is still in place. Point Of Sale. The Order requires ISPs to display the label at the “point of sale,” which the FCC defines as the moment a consumer begins to investigate and compare broadband service plans available to them at their location. The Order defines “point of sale” as both ISP websites and any other channels through which their service is sold, including ISP-owned retail locations, and third-party owned retail locations. When selling over the phone, the Order requires broadband providers to orally provide information from the label. Providers must display the actual label—not simply an icon or a link to the label—in close proximity to the associated plan advertisement. Machine-Readable. The Order requires providers to make the information included in the label available to the public in machine-readable format. By “machine readable,” the FCC means providing “data in a format that can be easily processed by a computer without human intervention while ensuring no semantic meaning is lost.” The Order states that “providers should make each label’s information available by providing the information separately in a spreadsheet file format such as .csv.” Disability Access. The Order requires that the label be accessible to people with disabilities at all points of sale. In this regard, the FCC strongly encourages ISPs to comply with the well-established legal requirements included in the ADA and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The WCAG are routinely updated. Therefore, providers’ websites should be modified over time consistent with such updates. “When providing the labels, ISPs must follow the ADA and associated guidance provided by the Department of Justice, including giving primary consideration to the individual’s choice of alternate format, including ‘qualified readers, taped texts, audio recordings, braille materials, large print materials, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments.’” Languages. The Order requires providers to make labels available in any other languages in which the ISP markets its services in the United States. Archived Labels. Broadband providers must archive, for two years, all labels required by this Order. They are not required to make the archived labels available to the general public. But they must provide any archived label to the FCC or a current customer upon request. Requests For More Information That The FCC Rejected The FCC’s Order agrees with WISPA’s advocacy on several points. No requirement for broadband providers to provide information about peak usage rates or packet loss. Aside from existing open internet transparency rules, there is no additional requirement to include detailed information about network management practices, specifically those related to blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. No requirement that ISPs display the label on a consumer’s monthly bill. The FCC acknowledges that providers have reasonable concerns that adding a graphic, or photo file such as a jpeg, of the label to printed bills or enclosing an insert of the label with billing statements may be costly and potentially burdensome. No requirement that ISPs create and display labels for services used by current customers that are no longer available to new customers. Broadband providers will not have to directly notify consumers about changes to the terms and conditions in the displayed labels. The FCC concluded that requiring providers to notify enrolled consumers each time a service offering displayed in a label changes could be burdensome for providers with minimal benefits for consumers. Consumers who already are notified about rate changes or speed upgrades through their bills or other mailings will likely be overwhelmed or even confused by additional notices about changes in label information. To the extent that some businesses, such as coffee shops, bookstores, airlines, and private end-user networks, such as libraries and universities, acquire broadband Internet access service from an ISP to enable patrons to access the Internet from their establishments, provision of such service by the premises operator is not itself broadband Internet access service unless offered to patrons as a mass-market retail service. Thus, these businesses need not create and display labels associated with those services. The FCC declined to adopt new rules, practices, or procedures specifically for enforcement of the broadband consumer label. Issues In The FNPRM Accessibility And Other Languages. The FCC seeks comment on whether it should adopt specific criteria, based on certain WCAG standards (e.g., use of Braille). It also seeks further comment on whether providers should be required to make the label available in languages other than those in which they market their services, such as Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. Pricing Information. The FCC seeks specific comment on pricing information for bundles. “Would a label requirement for bundled services, with a single price for the entire bundle, help consumers?” Speed Information. The FCC seeks comment “on whether there are more appropriate ways to measure speed and latency other than ‘typical’ for purposes of the label disclosure such as average or peak speed and latency. The FCC specifically asks “[s]hould we require providers to add another speed metric to the label in addition to typical speed?” Cybersecurity. The FCC asks “[s]hould ISPs be required to disclose at the point of sale information about their cybersecurity practices? What standards or best practices should be used to benchmark a broadband service’s security posture?” Reliability. The FCC asks whether “adding a reliability measure to the label improve the availability of that information to consumers? How would this information assist consumers with their purchasing decisions?” Other Service Characteristics. The FCC seeks comment on “whether there are other service characteristics, beyond speed and latency, and possibly reliability and cybersecurity, that ISPs should display on the label.” Network Management Practices. The FCC asks “whether a link to the network management practices is sufficient or if the label should include more specific disclosures about whether the provider engages in blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.” Privacy Policies. The FCC seeks comment on whether it should continue to include a link to the service provider’s current privacy policy in the label instead of including any detailed privacy information in the label itself. Interactive Formatting Issues. The FCC seeks comment on whether it should require ISPs to provide additional information in an interactive label, such as a customer’s “household Internet activity.” Labels Submitted To The FCC. As mentioned above, the Order requires broadband providers to provide broadband labels at the point of sale and to archive their labels for two years. According to the FCC, several commenters proposed that the Commission give providers the option of submitting labels directly to the Commission instead. Therefore, the FCC seeks comment on whether the Commission should allow broadband providers to do so and whether it should maintain a database of labels and post them on the Commission’s website. Comments will be due 30 days following Federal Register publication, and the public can comment on the following issues. Posted by Louis Peraertz to: "Member's Forum board, "FCC Adopts Broadband Consumer Label Rules" topic. You are opted-in to the [Member's Forum] board. This board is email-list enabled -- replying to this email will send your message to the entire message board. For best results if replying, please do so with a clean message (with no reply or forward history in the message body). If you want to stop receiving these emails please click here: opt-out and unsubscribe -- This song goes out to all the folk that thought Stadia would work: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dtaht_the-mushroom-song-activity-6981366665607352320-FXtz Dave Täht CEO, TekLibre, LLC _______________________________________________ LibreQoS mailing list [email protected] https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/libreqos
