FCC adopts net neutrality rules endorsed by open internet advocates
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to approve new rules endorsed by advocates of net neutrality and President Barack Obama that will prohibit internet service providers from discriminating against content producers.
As expected, the FCC voted 3-2 during a Thursday morning hearing in Washington, DC, moving to adopt a proposal authored by the commission’s chairman, former cable industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler.
“Today we are here to answer a few simple questions” about the internet, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said. “Who determines how you use the internet? Who decides what content you can view and when? Should there be a single internet or fast lanes and slow lanes? Should internet service providers be left free to slow down or throttle certain applications or content as they see fit? Should your access to the internet on your mobile device have the same protections as your fixed device at home?”
By approving rules that will let the FCC regulate the internet under Title II of the Communications Act, similar to how traditional telecommunications are governed already under law. ISPs will now be prohibited from giving preferential treatment to content producers, an arrangement that net neutrality proponents feared would allow for internet “fast lanes” in which companies could pay to have their products delivered more quickly to US consumers.
“Today is a red-letter day for internet freedom,” Wheeler said in his remarks. “For consumers who want to use the internet on their terms. For innovators who want to reach consumers without the control of gatekeepers. For a future in which there are rules to protect the internet and its users.
“But importantly, today is also a day that gives network operators what they require to continue to expand broadband service and competition. The rules for a fair and open internet are not old-style utility regulation, but a 21st Century set of rules for a 21st Century service,” the chairman continued. “Rate regulation, tariffing and forced unbundling have been superseded by a modernized regulatory approach that has already been demonstrated to work in encouraging investment in wireless voice networks.”
After Wheeler introduced his proposal via an open letter at the beginning of February, the vice president of federal regulatory for telecom giant AT&T said the company could pursue a lawsuit if plans similar to Wheeler’s were approved since the internet is an “information service.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb2BFLgCpc0
“When the FCC has to defend reclassification before an appellate court, it will have to grapple with these and other arguments,” AT&T’s Hank Hultquist wrote.
A court battle is expected. Other ISPs, such as Comcast, could join or sue the government separately.
"It is a defining moment, but it will be redefined by the courts, Congress and other entities including the marketplace going forward," said Gary Arlen, a research analyst, told USA Today.
Many Republicans in Congress oppose the proposal, saying that government meddling would snuff out investment in the industry. The GOP-led legislative branch could pass its own net neutrality laws, which would supersede the FCC’s regulations.
Before the commissioners voted on Wheeler’s proposal, they heard testimony in favor from Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson; television writer, producer and director Veena Sud; and founder of the internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Both Dickerson and Sud spoke about how net neutrality will benefit women, with the Etsy CEO saying that 88 percent of the online marketplace’s 1.2 million sellers are women, while the creator of AMC-***-Netflix TV show ‘The Killing’ noted that “while little more than 20 percent of comedies and dramas on traditional television have a woman at the helm, almost 40 percent of the series airing on these new online platforms [like Amazon and Netflix] this season will be run by women.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iaySrKAp0Y
source: http://rt.com/usa/235823-fcc-votes-net-neutrality/
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to approve new rules endorsed by advocates of net neutrality and President Barack Obama that will prohibit internet service providers from discriminating against content producers.
As expected, the FCC voted 3-2 during a Thursday morning hearing in Washington, DC, moving to adopt a proposal authored by the commission’s chairman, former cable industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler.
“Today we are here to answer a few simple questions” about the internet, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said. “Who determines how you use the internet? Who decides what content you can view and when? Should there be a single internet or fast lanes and slow lanes? Should internet service providers be left free to slow down or throttle certain applications or content as they see fit? Should your access to the internet on your mobile device have the same protections as your fixed device at home?”
By approving rules that will let the FCC regulate the internet under Title II of the Communications Act, similar to how traditional telecommunications are governed already under law. ISPs will now be prohibited from giving preferential treatment to content producers, an arrangement that net neutrality proponents feared would allow for internet “fast lanes” in which companies could pay to have their products delivered more quickly to US consumers.
“Today is a red-letter day for internet freedom,” Wheeler said in his remarks. “For consumers who want to use the internet on their terms. For innovators who want to reach consumers without the control of gatekeepers. For a future in which there are rules to protect the internet and its users.
“But importantly, today is also a day that gives network operators what they require to continue to expand broadband service and competition. The rules for a fair and open internet are not old-style utility regulation, but a 21st Century set of rules for a 21st Century service,” the chairman continued. “Rate regulation, tariffing and forced unbundling have been superseded by a modernized regulatory approach that has already been demonstrated to work in encouraging investment in wireless voice networks.”
After Wheeler introduced his proposal via an open letter at the beginning of February, the vice president of federal regulatory for telecom giant AT&T said the company could pursue a lawsuit if plans similar to Wheeler’s were approved since the internet is an “information service.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb2BFLgCpc0
“When the FCC has to defend reclassification before an appellate court, it will have to grapple with these and other arguments,” AT&T’s Hank Hultquist wrote.
A court battle is expected. Other ISPs, such as Comcast, could join or sue the government separately.
"It is a defining moment, but it will be redefined by the courts, Congress and other entities including the marketplace going forward," said Gary Arlen, a research analyst, told USA Today.
Many Republicans in Congress oppose the proposal, saying that government meddling would snuff out investment in the industry. The GOP-led legislative branch could pass its own net neutrality laws, which would supersede the FCC’s regulations.
Before the commissioners voted on Wheeler’s proposal, they heard testimony in favor from Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson; television writer, producer and director Veena Sud; and founder of the internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Both Dickerson and Sud spoke about how net neutrality will benefit women, with the Etsy CEO saying that 88 percent of the online marketplace’s 1.2 million sellers are women, while the creator of AMC-***-Netflix TV show ‘The Killing’ noted that “while little more than 20 percent of comedies and dramas on traditional television have a woman at the helm, almost 40 percent of the series airing on these new online platforms [like Amazon and Netflix] this season will be run by women.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iaySrKAp0Y
source: http://rt.com/usa/235823-fcc-votes-net-neutrality/
