Netflix pays tolls to broadband providers, but it has made a big stink about doing so. Now the Internet Association, representing Netflix and other Web giants such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Amazon and others, has urged the FCC to adopt rules to keep the tolls from getting out of hand — and avoid the creation of fast lanes on the Internet.
The association submitted comments to the FCC today, ahead of tomorrow s deadline for public comment on the agency s planned net neutrality rules. Advocating for an open Internet, the Internet Association says it s urgent that the FCC adopt light-touch rules to ensure consumers get equal, unfettered access to all Internet traffic. The group submission comes in the wake of some calls for Internet giants such as Google to do more to push for net neutrality. (Some of them have signed other letters to the FCC over the matter.)
Segregation of the Internet into fast lanes and slow lanes will distort the market, discourage innovation and harm Internet users, said Michael Beckerman, president and CEO of the Internet Association, in a press release.
As tech advances have provided [ISPs] with an unprecedented ability to discriminate among sources and types of Internet traffic in real time and with little cost, it s important to draw up rules to stop them, the association said in its comments to the FCC. Among other things, the broadband providers should be required to be more transparent about how they handle traffic, TIA says.
But is trying to stop fast lanes practically moot? As we ve mentioned, some reports have indicated that tech giants such as Google and Facebook already pay such tolls, although the companies haven t responded to our requests to confirm this.
The Internet Association also says fixed and wireless broadband should be subject to the same rules; the FCC s previous open Internet rules had treated them differently when it considered wireless connections as up-and-coming.
Larry Magid notes that ordinary netizens might want to join the hundreds of thousands of others who already have submitted their comments to the FCC. Whatever side you re on, this is a heated and important debate because it will affect the future of what has become the world s most important communications and information network, Magid writes. Comments on the initial comments will be taken until Sept. 10.
Proponents of net neutrality say the FCC s proposed rules could mean the (oft-mentioned) end of the Internet as we know it; could hinder innovation; and give rise to discrimination and censorship.
Photo: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on May 15, 2014 at the FCC headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
