Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/470332
ByAnneFlaherty The Associated Press WASHINGTON Internetac- tivists declared victory over the nation's big cable com- panies Thursday, after the Federal Communications Commission voted to im- pose the toughest rules yet on broadband providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T to prevent them from creating paid fast lanes and slowing or blocking web traffic. The 3-2 vote ushered in a new era of government oversight for an industry that has seen relatively lit- tle. It represents the biggest regulatory shake-up to tele- communications providers in almost two decades. The new rules require that any company provid- ing a broadband connection to your home or phone must act in the "public interest" and refrain from using "un- just or unreasonable" busi- ness practices. The goal is to prevent providers from striking deals with content providers like Google, Net- flix or Twitter to move their data faster. "Today is a red-letter day for Internet freedom," said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, whose remarks at Thursday's meeting fre- quently prompted applause by Internet activists in the audience. President Barack Obama, who had come out in favor of net neutrality in the fall, portrayed the decision as a victory for democracy in the digital age. In an online let- ter, he thanked the millions who wrote to the FCC and spoke out on social media in support of the change. "Today's FCC decision will protect innovation and create a level playing field for the next genera- tion of entrepreneurs — and it wouldn't have hap- pened without Americans like you," he wrote. Verizon saw it differently, using the Twitter hashtag #ThrowbackThursday to draw attention to the FCC's reliance on 1934 legislation to regulate the Internet. Net neutrality is the idea that websites or videos load at about the same speed. That means you won't be more inclined to watch a particular show on Ama- zon Prime instead of on Netflix because Amazon has struck a deal with your service provider to load its data faster. For years, providers mostly agreed not to pick winners and losers among Web traffic because they didn't want to encourage regulators to step in and because they said consum- ers demanded it. But that started to change around 2005, when YouTube came online and Netflix became increasingly popular. On- demand video began hog- ging bandwidth, and evi- dence surfaced that some providers were manipulat- ing traffic without telling consumers. By 2010, the FCC en- acted open Internet rules, but the agency's legal ap- proach was eventually struck down in the courts. The vote Thursday was in- tended by Wheeler to erase any legal ambiguity by no longer classifying the Inter- net as an "information ser- vice" but a "telecommuni- cations service" subject to Title II of the 1934 Com- munications Act. That would dramatically expand regulators' power over the industry and hold broadband providers to the higher standard of operat- ing in the public interest. "Despite the cable indus- try's best efforts to under- mine our cause, we secured an open Internet, free from gatekeepers and corporate monopolies. We have an In- ternet for the people," said David Segal, executive di- rector of Demand Progress, a progressive Internet activ- ism group. Industry officials and congressional Republicans fought bitterly to stave off the new regulations, which they said constitutes dan- gerous overreach and would eventually raise costs for consumers. The broadband industry was expected to sue. "With years of uncer- tainty and unintended consequences ahead of us, it falls to Congress to step in," said Michael Powell, head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. GOP lawmakers said they would push for legislation, although it was unlikely Obama would sign such a bill. "Only action by Congress can fix the damage and un- certainty this FCC order has inflicted on the Inter- net," Sen. John Thune, R- S.D., chairman of the Sen- ate Commerce Committee, said in a statement. Complicating the issue is that not every broadband provider agrees on what should be done. Sprint, for example, has said it doesn't think the new regulations would hurt investment. AT&T, however, supports the less stringent rules pre- viously put in place by the FCC, which were struck down in court. On Thurs- day, a senior company offi- cial said the FCC had gone too far and could cause ir- reversible harm. FCC AND THE WEB Regulators approve tougher rules for Internet providers PABLOMARTINEZMONSIVAIS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman listens to FCC commissioners speak prior to a vote on Net Neutrality, on Thursday at the FCC in Washington. By Ben Nuckols The Associated Press WASHINGTON Defying threats from Congress, the District of Columbia legal- ized possession of mari- juana for recreational pur- poses on Thursday, becom- ing the first place east of the Mississippi River with legal pot. The new law took effect at 12:01 a.m., despite last- minute maneuvers by Re- publican leaders in Con- gress and threats that city leaders could face prison time. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, who took office in January, said it was her duty to implement the initiative city voters ap- proved overwhelmingly in November. "This is a major mile- stone on the road to end- ing marijuana prohibi- tion in the United States," said Robert Capecchi of the Marijuana Policy Proj- ect, which advocates for le- galization. "If the president can brew and drink beer in the White House, adults should be allowed to grow and consume a less harmful substance in their houses." Possession of up to 2 ounces of pot for use at home is now legal, and people are also permitted to grow up to three mature plants. Smoking marijuana in public remains illegal, as does buying or selling the drug. On Tuesday, Alaska also implemented a voter initia- tive legalizing the private use, sharing and cultivation of recreational pot, but law- makers there won't imple- ment the next phase — cre- ating a regulated market where legal marijuana can be sold and taxed — until 2016 at least. The District's initiative, approved by 65 percent of the voters in Novem- ber, only addressed per- sonal possession, not taxa- tion or regulation, and Dis- trict leaders acknowledge that Congress blocked any effort to implement a legal marijuana market. But they believe Congress acted too late to stop legalization for private use. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, urged Bowser in a letter late Tuesday to reconsider. He said that the mayor and any other dis- trict employees who spend money or time implement- ing any aspect of the initia- tive could face prison time for violating federal law. "The penalties are severe, and we're serious about this. Nobody's wishing or wanting that to happen, but the law is clear," Chaf- fetz told the AP. Bowser responded sharply even as she tried to ratchet down the conflict. "Bullying the District of Columbia is not what his constituents expect, nor do ours," Bowser said. "We do disagree on a matter of law. There are reasonable ways to resolve that without us threatening him or he us." It would be up to the Jus- tice Department, not Con- gress, to prosecute District officials, and that scenario appears unlikely. However, Congress could sue the city, and House Republicans also could retaliate by pull- ing federal funding for city programs. Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican from North Car- olina, co-signed the letter to Bowser late Tuesday, which warned that by spending money to change pot laws, District officials would vio- late the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits spending of unappropriated federal dol- lars. The oversight commit- tee also demanded to see all District documents detail- ing money spent and time put in by city employees to implement the initiative. MARIJUANA DC leaders legalize marijuana despite threats from Congress By Felicia Fonseca The Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. Comput- ers, cellphones and landlines in Arizona were knocked out of service for hours, ATMs stopped working, 911 sys- tems were disrupted and businesses were unable to process credit card transac- tions — all because vandals sliced through a fiber-optic Internet cable buried under the rocky desert. The Internet outage did more than underscore just how dependent modern so- ciety has become on high technology. It raised ques- tions about the vulnerabil- ity of the nation's Internet infrastructure. Alex Juarez, a spokesman for Internet service pro- vider CenturyLink, said the problem was first reported around noon Wednesday, with customer complaints pouring in from an area extending from the north- ern edges of Phoenix to cit- ies like Flagstaff, Prescott and Sedona. Service began coming back within a few hours and was reported fully restored by about 3 a.m. Thursday. CenturyLink blamed vandalism, and police are investigating. The severed Century- Link-owned cable — actu- ally, a set of cables bundled together in a black jacket a few inches in diameter — was buried several feet un- der the rocky soil in a dry wash, about a quarter-mile from the nearest houses. Investigators believe the vandals were looking for copper wire — which can fetch high prices as scrap — but didn't find any after cutting all the way through the cable, probably with power tools, Phoenix police spokesman Officer James Holmes said. "Your average house saw and wire cutters wouldn't do it," Holmes said. He said the damage was estimated at $6,000. As the outage spread, Cen- turyLink technicians began the long, tedious process of inspecting the line mile by mile. They eventually lo- cated the cut in the cable and spliced it back together. CenturyLink gave no es- timate on how many people were affected, but the out- age was far-reaching be- cause other cellphone, TV and Internet providers use the cable, too, under leas- ing arrangements with the company. Such networks often have built-in redundancies that allow data to be rerouted if a cable is cut or damaged. But that was not the case here, said Mark Goldstein, secretary for the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council. The challenge in Ari- zona, he said, is that large swaths of the outage area are a mishmash of federal lands under the control of different agencies. "You can't just like go through the mountains and bury fiber. Part of the problems have to do with land ownership in Ari- zona. So much land is Bu- reau of Land Management, the National Park Service or tribal," Goldstein said. SERVICE OUTAGES Vandalism in Arizona shows the Internet's vulnerability By Jennifer Peltz The Associated Press NEW YORK A man prose- cutors portrayed as one of al-Qaida's early leaders was convicted Thursday of con- spiracy in the deadly bomb- ings of two U.S. embassies in Africa following a trial that showcased the terror group's early days. An anonymous jury re- turned a verdict in Khaled al-Fawwaz's case after 2 days of deliberating. The monthlong trial unfolded in a heavily fortified court- house where federal guards stood outside with machine guns and spectators had to pass through a special metal detector outside the courtroom. Al-Fawwaz stood ex- pressionless as the verdict was read, pursing his lips briefly. He could face life in prison. Prosecutors said al-Faw- waz, a 52-year-old Saudi Arabian, was a close con- fidant of Osama bin Laden and made sure bin Laden's death threats against Amer- icans were heard and no- ticed worldwide in 1998. Al-Fawwaz led an al-Qa- ida Afghanistan training camp in the early 1990s, helped a terrorist cell in Ke- nya and schemed with bin Laden to open a media in- formation office in London, where al-Fawwaz became bin Laden's link to journal- ists in the West before the August 1998 embassy bomb- ings in Kenya and Tanzania, prosecutors said. The at- tacks killed 224 people, in- cluding a dozen Americans. Al-Fawwaz "operated at the very heart of this con- spiracy," Assistant U.S. At- torney Sean Buckley said in his closing argument. Defense lawyers said al- Fawwaz was a dissident who sought peaceful reform in his homeland and was dis- mayed by Osama bin Laden's shift toward violence. BIN LADEN CONFIDANT Sa ud i ma n co nv ic te d of c on sp ir ac y in 1998 US embassy bombings Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. •DR.ASATO&DR.MARTIN • FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE CO. • WI N G S OLA R & W OO D EN ERGY • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WA LM AR T • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. 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