WASHINGTON DC ? On Thursday, as expected, the Federal Communications Commission adopted Net neutrality regulations based on a new definition of broadband that will let the government regulate Internet infrastructure just like the old Ma Bell.
At the FCC’s monthly meeting, the agency reinstated open Internet rules in a 3-2 vote split along party lines. The new rules replace regulations that had been thrown out by a federal court last year, CNET.Com reported.
The new rules prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing down traffic on wired and wireless networks. They also ban Internet service providers from offering paid priority services that could allow them to charge content companies, such as Netflix, fees to access Internet “fast lanes” to reach customers more quickly when networks are congested.
The crux of the new rules is the FCC’s reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecommunications service under the 1934 Communications Act. Applying the Title II moniker to broadband has the potential to radically change how the Internet is governed, giving the FCC unprecedented authority. The provision originally gave the agency the power to set rates and enforce the “common carrier” principle, or the idea that every customer gets equal access to the network. Now this idea will be applied to broadband networks to prevent Internet service providers from favoring one bit of data over another.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the controversial move to reclassify broadband is necessary to ensure that the rules will stand up to future court challenges. The FCC has lost two previous legal challenges when defending its Net neutrality rules.
But the FCC’s move to apply Title II to broadband has been viewed by cable operators, wireless providers and phone companies as a “nuclear option,” with potentially devastating fallout from unintended consequences.
These companies argue that applying outdated regulation to the broadband industry will stifle innovation by hurting investment opportunities in networks. It could also allow the government to impose new taxes and tariffs, which would increase consumer bills. And they say it could even allow the government to force network operators to share their infrastructure with competitors.
Wheeler has said these fears are overblown. The agency is ignoring aspects of the Title II regulation that would apply most of the onerous requirements.
He said critics have painted his proposal as “a secret plan to regulate the Internet.”
His response to that? “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 concept: openness.” Reactions to the passage of the FCC’s new rules and the reclassification of broadband came quick from the industry. Michael Powell, a former FCC chairman and head of the cable industry’s lobbying organization, said the FCC has gone too far in its intent to secure an open Internet for all consumers and entrepreneurs by reclassifying broadband.
“The FCC has taken the overwhelming support for an open Internet and pried open the door to heavy-handed government regulation in a space celebrated for its free enterprise,” he said in a statement. “The Commission has breathed new life into the decayed telephone regulatory model and applied it to the most dynamic, free-wheeling and innovative platform in history.”
