Less than a month before he presents new rules designed to
ensure an open Internet, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler
is seeking to consolidate support for an option that would regulate Internet
service providers more tightly, like public utilities. Wheeler has staunchly
backed the principle of the Internet being open and neutral for all types of
legal content providers, and his reiteration of the position this week at the
2105 Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas deflated the hopes of ISPs for a
more hands-off approach.
A new set of net neutrality rules proposed by Wheeler will
be circulated to other FCC commissioners on Feb. 5 and a vote will take place
on Feb. 26, wrapping up a drawn-out process that has had cable companies,
free-speech advocates, start-ups and consumers eagerly arguing their positions
in comments to the FCC. Since the FCC began working on the new rules about a
year ago, it has received more than 4 million public comments, a record for the
agency.
In January 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia overturned much of the FCC's rules on net neutrality, the principle
that all legal content on the Internet should be treated equally by ISPs and
not blocked or deliberately slowed down.
With the agency seeking to recast the rules, net neutrality
advocates, President Obama among them, have called for an option that would
regulate ISPs as a utility, just like electricity and water, and subject them
to tighter rules about how and when they can adjust the speed and pricing of
their networks.
Once set, the rules could have deep ramifications on the
rapidly evolving video technology that is being explored by content providers,
including TV networks that are starting to offer live programming over the
Internet without relying on cable. The future of the much ballyhooed
"Internet of Things" — in which everyday objects like refrigerators
and thermostats are connected to home Wi-Fi — will be dictated by the premise
of fast, unobstructed online connections.
There will be some exceptions under his rules, Wheeler said.
But measuring ISPs' behavior will be guided by the legal standard that's
currently applied to wireless carriers. Cable companies and other ISPs have
vigorously fought against the treat-them-like-utility option — often referred
to as Title II, a provision of The Telecommunications Act — and argued that it
would stifle innovation and investment.
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