A Bumpy Ride on the Internet Access Highway: the FCC’s Net Neutrality Decision
Around many of America’s largest cities, high occupancy toll lanes offer drivers the option of paying to get to their destination faster. Similarly, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner are gatekeepers to broadband Internet access lanes and have the ability assign priority lanes — with better quality and faster speeds — to those who pay a premium. The ISPs also have an incentive to provide slower access and to block services that compete with their telephone and video services. Advocates for Internet neutrality – a term that connotes different things to different people – want the government to step in to ensure that Internet users (both subscribers and companies that work on the Internet) will have access to the services and applications they choose without interference.
In December, the Federal Communications Commission waded into the net neutrality debate, where Congress has thus far feared to tread, when it voted 3-2 to establish rules to preserve open Internet access. With over 100,000 comments filed in the leadup to the FCC decision, it’s clear that the public is concerned about the future of access to the Internet. (more…)
Tags: Andrew Schwartzman, AT&T, broadband, cable, Comcast, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, Gigi Sohn, Google, internet access, internet freedom, internet freedom act, Internet Service Providers, ISP, ISPs, Jules Genachowski, media access project, Michael Copps, Michael Glover, net neutrality, open internet, Public Knowledge, Verizon