Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler has penned an open letter proposing the strongest open Internet protections to-date.
“I am proposing that the FCC use its Title II authority to implement and enforce open internet protections,” Wheeler in Wired Magazine yesterday. He noted these are the “strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC,” calling the proposed regulations “enforceable, bright-line rules (that) will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services.”
Wheeler went on to state that these rules will now be applied to mobile broadband, as well. “My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone’s permission,” Wheeler wrote in the Wired piece.
According to NPR, this is the second iteration of net neutrality rules authored by the FCC. A federal court struck down the first set in January 2014. Net neutrality is defined in the NPR story as “the concept that your Internet provider should be a neutral gateway to everything on the Internet, not a gatekeeper deciding to load some sites slower than others or impose fees for faster service,” and is intended to keep the Internet free and open.
Media Resources: Wired, 2/4/15; NPR, 2/4/15; Feminist Majority Foundation, 4/27/06.
