FCC holds Internet apps contest
The Federal Communications Commission wants researchers and developers to come up with tools to help measure Internet openness and determine when a broadband provider is interfering with access.
Is your broadband provider interfering with your Web surfing, or is your Internet provider steering you to certain websites or services and making others more difficult to access?
The Federal Communications Commission wants developers and researchers to explore those topics in its new Open Internet Apps Challenge, which was announced today.
The goal is to foster the principles of the Open Internet, the ideal of an open platform enabling full consumer choice, competition and freedom online. On Dec. 21, the FCC adopted rules for broadband providers to foster Open Internet goals. The goals also are closely related to net neutrality, which is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally and broadband providers should not block potentially competing services.
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“Our goal is to foster user-developed applications that shine light on any practice that might be inconsistent with the free and open Internet,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a news release.
Responses are due June 1, and public voting on the ideas will start June 15.
The winners will be invited to FCC headquarters in Washington to present their work to the commission and will have their applications and research featured on the FCC website and social media outlets.