Net Neutrality News - On Monday, US President Barack Obama asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set the "strongest possible rules" to ensure net neutrality as the agency writes new Internet traffic regulations. The strict policy is the administration's effort to offer an open and free Internet to Americans.
According to President Obama, open access to the Internet should be seen as a basic right that all Americans should enjoy. BBC News reported the president supported net neutrality, which means all data travels on cables with the same priority.
The administration's call for a strict policy of so-called net neutrality and formally opposing deals in which content providers would pay huge amounts to broadband companies for faster access to their customers. According to the New York Times, Obama's proposal is consistent with his longstanding support for rules seeking to prevent cable and telephone companies from providing special access to some content providers.
President Obama urged the FCC to prohibit so-called paid prioritization, deals in which content providers would pay Internet companies to guarantee smooth delivery traffic. As reported by NBC News, he said the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service to be regulated more like a public utility.
Based on the latest news, President Obama strongly urged the FCC, in a written statement and a video on the White House Web site, to adopt the strictest rules for net neutrality. He also stated the significance of Internet access to the economy.
"An open Internet is essential to the American economy, and increasingly to our very way of life," the president stated. "By lowering the cost of launching a new idea, igniting new political movements, and bringing communities closer together, it has been one of the most significant democratizing influences the world has ever known."
"'Net neutrality' has been built into the fabric of the Internet since its creation - but it is also a principle that we cannot take for granted," Obama added. "We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas."
Official plans to end net neutrality and let companies run fast and slow lanes for data have generated wide debate in the US. Numerous comments about the proposed change were lodged with the US regulator supervising the debate.
The news on Obama's detailed position on the net neutrality issue, which was his platform in the 2008 presidential campaign, signified an exceptional step by the White House into the policy-setting of an independent agency. Reuters reported it came after nearly 4 million comments flooded the FCC after Chairman Tom Wheeler formally proposed new Internet traffic rules in May.
Public internet groups have vigorously opposed Wheeler's proposal, which prohibited Internet service providers from blocking any content, but allowed deals where content providers would pay ISPs to ensure smooth delivery of traffic.
In the news, though Internet users and companies commended Obama's net neutrality comments, major corporations called it an overreaction that would lead to lawsuits and worse service. However, the president stressed that FCC is an independent agency and could decide ultimately on their own.
Meanwhile, Verizon has said through a statement of its own that the light-touch monitoring approach in place for the past two decades has been vital to the Internet's success. And reclassification under federal rules would be a drastic setback of course that would threaten great damage to an open Internet.
Verizon also stressed the new rules would just invite strong legal challenges. However, net neutrality backers cheered Obama's announcement. But the issue has also divided the Congress.
On the other hand, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Obama's statement was an essential contribution to the net neutrality debate and restated the regulator's opposition to the net fast lanes. He also added the issue was so complex that the FCC would need more time to work out all the legal complications surrounding the reclassification of net services. He emphasized that time is much needed to ensure that the changes would endure legal challenges.
"We must take the time to get the job done correctly, once and for all, in order to successfully protect consumers and innovators online," Wheeler stated.
Pro-net neutrality groups have hailed Obama's news. They said the Obama administration has expanded its leadership to promote an open Internet by supporting the strongest tools to prevent blocking or regulating of Internet traffic, and by also supporting the strongest tools to prevent fast lanes and prioritized traffic on the public's most significant communications platform of the 21st century.
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