Hints that the FCC was considering allowing "fast lanes" for some internet traffic caused protests
The chairman of the US's
communications watchdog is proposing "strong" protections to ensure the
principles of net neutrality are upheld.
In an article in Wired, Tom Wheeler said he intended to place new restrictions on how fixed line and mobile broadband providers handle data.He plans to prevent the service providers from being able to create fast lanes for those willing to pay.
Verizon has indicated that it might begin legal action as a consequence.
Setting out his vision, Mr Wheeler described it as the "strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC".
The principle of net neutrality is one that holds that all packets of data, whether it be an email, a webpage or a video, are treated equally on the network.
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler intends to reclassify internet service providers as public utilities
Some believe the FCC's chief only made a U-turn because President Obama had intervened
Verizon kickstarted the current debate about net neutrality when it challenged the FCC's net neutrality rules in January 2014.
A court found in its favour, meaning Verizon could start charging content providers such as Netflix to carry its content through its pipes. It also meant that the FCC had to reassess its rules.
It immediately had two lobby groups putting pressure on it.
Advocates of a free and open internet insisted that net neutrality was one of the fundamental tenets of the internet - it had been built for everybody and it should remain as easy for a small start-up as for a big multi-national to access people via the network, they argued.
ISPs, on the other hand, argued that some sort of traffic prioritisation was necessary in the complex data-hungry world we now live in. Doing so did not damage commitment to an open internet, they contended.
Initially it seemed that the regulator was leaning on the side of the ISPs and favouring some sort of two-tiered internet but protests outside its headquarters, intense lobbying from the tech industry and the eventual intervention of President Obama, appear to have changed its mind.
In November the president waded into the row and called on the FCC to enact "the strongest possible rules" to protect an open internet. SHARE IT!!!
No comments