Regulations Upholding Net Neutrality Approved
Today the FCC passed regulations to run the internet as a public utility, and in so doing preserve Net Neutrality.
Writing for The Guardian, Dominic Rushe explains that:
“Broadband providers will be banned from creating so-called “fast lanes” blocking or slowing traffic online, and the regulator will oversee mobile broadband as well as cable. The FCC would also have the authority to challenge unforeseen barriers broadband providers might create as the internet develops.”
Last December the situation looked perilous; the mass fallout that would result from the preferential treatment of web traffic was no trivial prospect. However, following outcry from multinationals; private investors and the general public the FCC was swayed. Politico’s Brooks Boliek writes:
“Google, Free Press and New America’s Open Technology Institute last week asked the commission to revise language they said could unintentionally allow Internet service providers to charge websites for sending content to consumers. Such a scenario could open the door to an avalanche of new fees for Web companies and threaten their business models. […] The last-minute revisions, however, demonstrate the growing influence of Google, which has become a major lobbying presence in Washington. Advocacy groups like Free Press have also been active in the net neutrality debate, pushing the FCC chairman toward the tough rules that he ultimately adopted.”
The news comes as a major win. Even so, the growing influence Boliek refers to is worrying. The political sway exerted by corporations on federal government has had favorable consequences today, but only because their own interests matched with those of the general public and activists groups. In effect, today’s victory consisted in out-lobbying a lobbyist (FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler). So while we rejoice today, expecting such results consistently is naivety none of us can afford.
