By: Angela Soric
The chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, has proposed specific rules regarding net neutrality (the regulation of how Internet service providers and wireless carriers handle subscriber traffic). If the proposal goes through, this would ultimately prevent carriers from deliberately blocking or slowing some types of Internet traffic for their benefit.
“The rules are needed because American Internet providers have interfered with Internet traffic on a number of occasions and they must be prevented from doing so in the future” said Genachowski
Genachowski also stressed that his proposal is intended to provide “fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the Internet.”
The FCC’s 6 principles (to serve as guidelines to preserve and promote public Internet).
- Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice.
- Consumers are entitled to run applications and services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.
- Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.
- Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.
- Service providers are not allowed to discriminate between applications, services and content outside of reasonable network management.
- Service providers must be transparent about the network management practices they use.
Some see this proposal as a huge win for entrepreneurs and consumers, while wireless carriers foresee a major setback.
