If you posted comments to the FCC website a few months ago asking to protect net neutrality – that is, the idea that all Internet traffic has to be served at the same speed, without priority for certain content – then congratulations. The FCC Chair, Tom Wheeler, recently submitted his recommendation to the FCC that the Internet be reclassified as a utility. This would allow the FCC to protect net neutrality, just as it protects telephone traffic, water, and power from uneven distribution schemes.
Before this proposal, cable Internet providers started charging certain content providers, notably Netflix, for access to different connection speeds. Many feared this would lead to rich content providers choking out new and underprivileged voices on the Internet.
The FCC still has to make its official ruling, but Tom Wheeler’s proposal indicates the likely outcome.
By Sharon Campbell