Faculty member's wait for broadband labels finally ends

Earlier this year the Federal Communications Commission launched Broadband Consumer Labels that require internet service providers to display information for consumers at the point of sale.

The labels resemble familiar nutrition labels that appear on food products. To ensure the label benefits consumers, the FCC adopted accessibility and language requirements for the label’s display.

Labels are required for all standalone home or fixed internet service or broadband plans. Providers must display the label — not just an icon or link to the label — in close proximity to an associated plan’s advertisement.

For one Bellisario College faculty member, the arrival of the labels completed a decade and a half of waiting.

Sascha Meinrath, the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications, led a team at the New America Foundation that first proposed such labels 15 years ago.

Below is a whiteboard mockup of a potential label from Meinrath’s group in 2009. Beneath that is a look at what the FCC rolled out in April of this year.