Net-Neutrality

In a historic decision the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has implemented a strong set of net  neutrality rules which forbid companies with deep pockets from using it to profit at the expense of the public and small businesses.

The new rules seem to be inspired from the open Internet rules that the Obama administration had laid out three months ago. It specifically denies cable companies to give priority to specific web services by creating “fast lanes” as well as forbids them from throttling bandwidth for those who don’t pay extra for priority access.

The core net neutrality provisions include a ban on blocking and throttling Internet traffic, on paid prioritization and need to disclose network management policies.

How these rules will impact the Open Internet

What these rules imply is the Internet is now being given the status of a public utility in the US, similar to electricity or telephones. Thus it gives the FCC and authority to regulate the service. However, they will not be able to dictate the price of the Internet service provided to the users.

The new rules give FCC the authority to step in when a big cable company doesn’t act in public interest. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that the cable companies and broadband service providers have the technical ability and financial incentive to impose restrictions on the Internet and further added:

“The Internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet. It is simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field. Think about it. The Internet has replaced the functions of the telephone and the post office. The Internet has redefined commerce, and as the outpouring from four million Americans has demonstrated, the Internet is the ultimate vehicle for free expression.

He explained why government should make the rules and not the ISPs

The Internet is simply too important to allow broadband providers to be the ones making the rules.This proposal has been described by one opponent as “a secret plan to regulate the Internet.” Nonsense. This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech. They both stand for the same concepts: openness, expression, and an absence of gate keepers telling people what they can do, where they can go, and what they can think.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said, “We cannot have a two-tiered Internet with fast lanes that speed the traffic of the privileged and leave the rest of us lagging behind. We cannot have gatekeepers who tell us what we can and cannot do and where we can and cannot go online, and we do not need blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization schemes that undermine the Internet as we know it.”

The Future of the Internet

This battle over the net neutrality rules has been going on for years.

In 2011, Verizon lawsuit led a judge overruled the FCC’s old net neutrality rules. Already, there are signs that the Republican Congress and some senators will oppose these rules. More pressure would ensue when cable companies file lawsuits to oppose these new rules. Having won the lawsuits against FCC before they seem pretty confident that the ruling should go in their favor.

Verizon is quite disappointed with these changes and has issued a furious response to FCC, in Morse Code, dated 1934. Not all ISPs are opposed these new rules though. T-Mobile and Sprint say that these rules will have no impact on their business.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, spoke to the FCC via video where he came out in support of these new rules.

The full net neutrality order has not been published yet. You can find the new set of rules here.