Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
US Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler has revealed that he will be distributing proposed new net neutrality guidelines to members of the agency this week.
In a column the chairman penned for Wired on Wednesday, Wheeler explained that the rules would be designed “to preserve the internet as an open platform for innovation and free expression” and were “rooted in long-standing regulatory principles, marketplace experience, and public input received over the last several months.”
According to Engadget, Wheeler’s plan would turn broadband Internet access into a public utility, like telephone service, by invoking the FCC’s Title II authority. The rules would prohibit ISPs to charge for faster access to broadband networks, and would also ban the slowdown of content and services that were not against the law. The rules will likely also apply to mobile broadband.
“Broadband network operators have an understandable motivation to manage their network to maximize their business interests. But their actions may not always be optimal for network users,” the chairman wrote. “The Congress gave the FCC broad authority to update its rules to reflect changes in technology and marketplace behavior in a way that protects consumers. Over the years, the Commission has used this authority to the public’s great benefit.”
Wheeler explained that the internet would likely be quite different had the commission not mandated open access for network equipment in the 1960s. Prior to that, AT&T prohibited users from attaching non-AT&T equipment to the network, he said. Modems that helped make the modern internet possible and allowed companies like AOL to grow during the early days of the computer were only possible because of the FCC’s open-network policy.
Wheeler also relayed a story about a company he was involved with in the mid-1980s, NABU: The Home Computer Network. He said that the firm was using new technology to transmit high speed data to computers over cable TV lines, but failed because it was forced to rely on cable operators to give them access to their networks. AOL, on the other hand, succeeded (despite the fact that its speeds were slower) because it was using open telephone networks.
“The phone network’s openness did not happen by accident, but by FCC rule,” he wrote, adding that providing “that kind of openness for America’s broadband networks” has been at the heart of the net neutrality debate in recent months. While he was initially planning to accomplish this through a portion of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 focused on the principle of “commercial reasonableness,” he ultimately changed his mind because he felt doing so would benefit companies more than consumers.
Title II, hear me roar
By using Title II authority, Wheeler said that he is “submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC… Under that authority my proposal includes a general conduct rule that can be used to stop new and novel threats to the internet. This means the action we take will be strong enough and flexible enough not only to deal with the realities of today, but also to establish ground rules for the as yet unimagined.”
“The internet must be fast, fair and open,” he concluded. “That is the message I’ve heard from consumers and innovators across this nation. That is the principle that has enabled the internet to become an unprecedented platform for innovation and human expression. And that is the lesson I learned heading a tech startup at the dawn of the internet age. The proposal I present to the commission will ensure the internet remains open, now and in the future, for all Americans.”
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