The FCC today released the full text of its controversial net neutrality rules, which it approved in a 3-2 vote a couple of weeks ago.
The rules call for no blocking, throttling or paid prioritization of Internet access; no unreasonable interference or disadvantage to consumers and edge providers; and increased transparency about Internet services. The Federal Communications Commission calls for the reclassification of Internet access as a utility, which the agency says gives it legal standing to enforce the rules.
A standout tidbit about what the rules don t do, applied to a high-profile example that has been used to illustrate the net neutrality issue: The FCC says its rules don t apply to interconnection deals, such as Netflix s paid arrangements with Internet service providers. The agency says it will watch, learn and act as required, and that it will consider claims involving interconnection.
The document, including the five commissioners statements and dozens of pages of dissent, totals 400 pages.
Support for the rules falls largely along party lines. Democrats and consumer advocates cheer the FCC s plan as a way to ensure an open Internet. Republicans and Internet service providers say the rules are unnecessary and amount to a power grab.
From Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenwercel s statement:
This is a big deal. What is also a big deal is 4 million voices. Four million Americans wrote this agency to make known their ideas, thoughts, and deeply-held opinions about Internet openness. They lit up our phone lines, clogged our e-mail in-boxes, and jammed our online comment system. That might be messy, but whatever our disagreements on network neutrality are, I hope we can agree that s democracy in action and something we can all support.
From Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai:
The Order ominously claims that [t]hreats to Internet openness remain today, that broadband providers hold all the tools necessary to deceive consumers, degrade content or disfavor the content that they don t like, and that the FCC continues to hear concerns about other broadband provider practices involving blocking or degrading third-party applications. The evidence of these continuing threats? There is none; it s all anecdote, hypothesis, and hysteria. A small ISP in North Carolina allegedly blocked VoIP calls a decade ago. Comcast capped BitTorrent traffic to ease upload congestion eight years ago. Apple introduced FaceTime over Wi-Fi first, cellular networks later. Examples this picayune and stale aren t enough to tell a coherent story about net neutrality. The bogeyman never had it so easy.
Photo: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler speaks during the net neutrality hearing Feb. 26, 2015. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
