President Barack Obama unveiled a new set of regulations on Monday meant to protect “net neutrality,” or the idea that the Internet should remain open in terms of transparency and access.
Obama’s “strongest possible rules to protect” an open Internet comes as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is preparing to establish new rules to regulate the Internet. The president strongly affirmed his position against a proposal that would allow cable companies to create Internet “fast lanes” for higher-paying customers. Internet service providers (ISPs) argue that companies like Netflix should have to pay more for larger use of bandwidth.
The opposition to the cable companies’ proposal claims that it will create an Internet that favors those who can afford faster service, thus ending the principal that all traffic on the web should be equal. Furthermore, net neutrality was implemented into the framework of the Internet at its creation.
Obama’s proposal to the FCC to protect what he called “one of the most significant democratizing influences the world has ever known” in the Internet consists of four clear rules.
First, a consumer attempting to access a website with legal content has that right and ISPs cannot block his request. This way, the president said in his statement, every consumer, “not just those commercially affiliated with an ISP, gets a fair shot at your business.”
In addition, ISPs should not “be able to intentionally slow down some content or speed up others…based on the type of service or your ISPs’ preferences,” which is called “throttling.” The idea is that one consumer may have a different ISP than another consumer, and one may access a particular website or service quicker than the other.
In his third rule, the President reaffirmed his position in support of the recently court-upheld Open Internet Transparency Rule. The FCC’s rule requires “that what providers tell you about their broadband service is sufficient for you to make informed choices – including choices about speed and price.” The President’s third rule is not a new one, but a plea for the FCC to “make full use” of the transparency ruling.
The last, and most controversial, is that ISPs cannot prioritize a website or service and force them to pay more for the amount of bandwidth they use. Recently, Comcast won a settlement with the Netflix streaming service, forcing Netflix to pay more for bandwidth because they use more of it. The president came out strictly against this move, and is asking the FCC to place a ban on paid prioritization.
Proponents of cable companies prioritizing Internet content said that Obama’s new regulations will impose on innovation and stifle growth within the ISP companies. Telecommunications Industry Association CEO Scott Belcher said he was “deeply concerned” over the proposals and claimed they will “set the industry back decades.”
Many on the political right reaffirm Belcher’s position. Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Twitter that net neutrality is “Obamacare for the Internet.” Mitch McConnell, who in January will become the Senate majority leader, claimed that Obama’s proposals are “heavy-handed regulation that will stifle innovation.”
Collin Heatley is a fourth-year student majoring in history. He can be reached at CH761384@wcupa.edu.
Please support net neutrality as proposed by President O’Bama.