The Federal Communications Commission voted today to restore Internet providers as Title II telecommunication services. In less legislative jargon, they restored net neutrality and it’s an admission that the Internet is an essential service. No one can do business without it and students need it to attend classes, especially college students and life-long learners.
Net neutrality is the principle that providers of internet service should treat all traffic equally. The rules ban practices that throttle or block certain sites or apps, or that offer higher speeds to customers willing to pay extra. Besides the leveling of the playing field for new companies entering the application and streaming arena, this ruling also ends up elevating the Internet to an essential service and part of our national security to protect. There is of course another side, the one that reappealed it previously, that says that the real problem are application providers, not telecommunications companies and they would like to go after big tech instead.
From the press release,
Through its actions today, the Commission creates a national standard by which it can ensure that
broadband internet service is treated as an essential service. Today’s vote also makes clear that
the Commission will exercise its authority over broadband in a narrowly tailored fashion—
without rate regulation, tariffing, or unbundling—to foster continued innovation and investment.
With today’s vote, the Commission restores fundamental authority to provide effective oversight
over broadband service providers, giving the Commission essential tools to:DOC-402082A1.pdf (fcc.gov)
- Protect the Open Internet – Internet service providers will again be prohibited from
blocking, throttling, or engaging in paid prioritization of lawful content, restoring the
rules that were upheld by the D.C. Circuit in 2016.- Safeguard National Security – The Commission will have the ability to revoke the
authorizations of foreign-owned entities who pose a threat to national security to operate
broadband networks in the U.S. The Commission has previously exercised this authority
under section 214 of the Communications Act to revoke the operating authorities of four
Chinese state-owned carriers to provide voice services in the U.S. Any provider without
section 214 authorization for voice services must now also cease any fixed or mobile
broadband service operations in the United States.- Monitor Internet Service Outages – When workers cannot telework, students cannot
study, or businesses cannot market their products because their internet service is out, the
FCC can now play an active role.
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