FCC will propose net neutrality rules
By Michael W. Jones
In a move that will make a start to keeping one of Barack Obama’s campaign promises, the FCC will be proposing a set of rules aimed at preserving and enforcing internet neutrality.
A number of reports have surfaced today which indicate that the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, will give a speech Monday at the Brookings Institution in Washington which lays out the plans of the Obama administration to both fully define and enforce the concept of network neutrality, according to an AP story.
Network neutrality is a principle proposed for residential broadband networks and potentially for all networks. A neutral broadband network is one that is free of restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as one where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams.
It is anticipated that the new FCC proposals will seek to implement a pledge that Barack Obama made during the presidential campaign. He said then that he fully supported Internet neutrality, i.e. the equal treatment of Internet traffic. Such rules would keep Internet service providers such as Verizon Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. or AT&T Inc., from slowing or blocking certain services or content flowing through their vast networks. It is feared that without strict rules ensuring neutrality of the internet, communications companies could interfere with the transmission of content, such as television shows delivered over the Internet, that compete with other services the ISPs offer, like cable television, much to the detriment of the consumer.
The issue is, of course, about money. Many internet service providers are cable companies or other corporations that license and deliver content via methods other than the internet. It is therefore in their interest to hoard entertainment commodities, ensuring that their companies can realize the best profit from them. Opposing groups do not want to see the freedom of information on the internet fettered for reasons of profit. President-to-be Obama agreed with this latter group during his run for the U.S. Presidency and is now apparently ready to make good on his promise to keep the internet neutral.
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September 20th, 2009
I have hughesnet and this has always been a problem 200 megabit a day limit and it you go over you can check your email for a day I’m sick of it and in my area it’s out only option for broadband
September 21st, 2009
Daniel, a bandwidth cap is not related to net neutrality. The cap you’re a victim of applies to all forms of net traffic – web, email, ftp, p2p, etc. What NN is attempting to address are things like Comcast & AT&T blocking of P2P traffic, blocking the ability to have a personal email or web server at home (that uses standard ports), and rate-throttling bandwidth intense tasks like video streaming so as to be near useless, P2P, perhaps downloading Windows updates or Linux ISOs, etc.
It also relates to, as mentioned in the article, putting more bandwidth towards their own services v. competitive services. Example: Comcast allowing Comcast Sportsnet traffic to run at full speed while rate-limiting ESPN traffic to, say, 20% as much.