The Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules that promote net neutrality—despite lingering partisan disagreement on how to best ensure the future of the Internet. The FCC approved the new rules along party lines, and though some have suggested the new rules are like those that regulate utilities or are “antiquated,” others disagree.
“The talk of the so-called ‘utility-type’ regulation and ‘antiquated’ rules is more rhetoric than a substantive argument,” said Pantelis Michalopoulos, head of the technology, Internet and media practice group at Steptoe & Johnson. “The opponents of net neutrality do not mention any examples of what they mean.”
As envisioned, the new rules aim to prevent blocking, throttling and fast lanes, explained Tom Wheeler, the Democratic chairman of the FCC. “Consumers must get what they pay for—unfettered access to any lawful content on the Internet,” Wheeler added during Thursday’s FCC meeting.
Wheeler specified that broadband networks must be fast, fair and open. He added that under the new rules the open Internet will apply “equally to both fixed and mobile networks.” “Mobile wireless networks account for 55 percent of Internet usage. We cannot have two sets of Internet protections—one fixed and one mobile—when the difference is increasingly anachronistic to consumers,” Wheeler said.
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