FCC Updates Net Neutrality, But Keeps “Speed-For-Pay”

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has once again revised its stance on Net Neutrality – the idea that all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should treat all traffic equally.

According to the Wall Street Journal, new regulations drafted by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler keeps the provisions under which businesses can pay ISPs to get their content delivered faster, but adds clarification on what FCC means under “commercially reasonable” terms. The document also claims to offer more protection to consumers and young companies.

The new draft attempts to address issues that caused a backlash against the previous version of the regulation, published in April.

An unnamed FCC official noted that even if the draft passes the Thursday vote, it will still be subject to a public consultation that will take a further look at “paid prioritisation” agreements. Whether broadband should be considered a utility will also be up for a debate.

The current US legislation does not prevent ISPs from blocking or slowing down traffic towards certain websites.

Decisions, decisions

In 2011, the FCC passed Net Neutrality rules designed to keep the Internet free and prevent service providers from blocking each others’ business. However this January, a lawsuit by Verizon brought a ruling that the US telecoms regulator cannot force ISPs to treat all traffic on equal terms – an outcome widely criticised by freedom of speech campaigners.

The FCC said at the time it would propose a new set of rules rather than try and appeal this decision.

In April, the watchdog published the draft rules which seemed to indicate that Net Neutrality was no longer on the agenda. The document banned ISPs from slowing down traffic towards individual websites, but also enabled them to take money in exchange for prioritising traffic from certain sources – most likely video content providers like YouTube or Netflix – the so-called “speed for pay” provision.

Critics of the April draft said it would have stifled domestic competition and could have had a negative impact on European companies that wish to enter the US market.

The new draft includes language that signals the FCC will evaluate every particular traffic prioritisation deal to make sure it doesn’t put non-paying companies at a disadvantage. It also proposes a new ombudsman position with “significant enforcement authority” to advocate on behalf of start-ups.

On Thursday, this document will be put to a vote. If the draft is approved, the FCC will open a public consultation, seeking views on whether such “pay-for-speed” deals should be allowed, and whether broadband connections should be considered a utility – something that would invite more regulation from the FCC.

The EU parliament recently approved plans to enshrine Net Neutrality in European law, but they have to be adopted by individual member states.

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Max Smolaks

Max 'Beast from the East' Smolaks covers open source, public sector, startups and technology of the future at TechWeekEurope. If you find him looking lost on the streets of London, feed him coffee and sugar.

View Comments

  • Insulting and Pathetic. There is a feeble attempt by Wheeler to disguise his efforts to put an end to Net Neutrality. He is even more devious than was first apparent. Shameful behavior for a so-called servant of the people. He is still nothing but a shill for the big ISPs. He must think we are all a bunch of idiots. There must be continued outcry from the public in order to put enough pressure on Wheeler to do the right thing. The White House must step on the side of the people or be tarred with Wheeler's corporate brush.

  • South America leads North America on net neutrality. How can this be?
    http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2014/05/09/the-fcc-can-learn-some-net-neutrality-lessons-from-latin-america
    At least 10 right minded Senators who have turned their back on the billionare lobbyists and are waking up to what getting rid of "net neutrality" will mean.
    I still don't think they realise the extent of the reverse engineering aspects of the FCC proposals that will hit Google...Facebook...free speech.

    Of a huge....enormous concern is that it is moving towards political interference, "on steroids," of the internet. We already see the FCC trying to get monitors into newsrooms and the FEC warning about the war that the Obama administration and Democrats want to wage through these agencies on conservative America. But it is not just conservative America that should be worried but all Americans who value free speech for it should be neither corporations or governments speeding up...slowing down and cutting off free speech.

    Where there is a toll there are vested interests and enemies of free speech on the payroll.

    http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/09/10-senators-blast-fcc-proposed-internet-fast-lane-net-neutrality-rules/?ncid=rss

    This is great news. Thank you Senators who value free speech and despise government and corporations machinery from discriminating against it. Having said this Facebook does a lot of censorship and it should stop being a hypocrite in their FCC complaints regarding free speech being at risk.

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