The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to restore net neutrality rules, aiming to prevent broadband providers from blocking or slowing down internet services. This decision reverses a Trump-era repeal and is expected to face significant opposition from telecom companies and Republicans.
This action signifies a broader effort by the FCC to regulate high-speed internet as a utility, similar to water or electricity. This move is driven by the increasing reliance of consumers on the internet for daily communication needs. The agency aims to enhance its ability to oversee broadband providers for potential net neutrality violations and address consumer harm and security risks.
Net neutrality is a principle advocating equal access to internet content. It prevents internet service providers (ISPs) from interfering with users' access to websites or services. This concept, initially proposed to counter the blocking or slowing of services by ISPs competing with those services (e.g., cable companies blocking streaming services), is now pivotal for maintaining a fair and open internet.
The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to move forward on a proposal to restore open internet rules, which were repealed during the Trump administration, with a final vote likely to come next year.
The commissioners at the Democratic-led agency voted 3 to 2 along party lines to kick off a monthslong process to bring back so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing down services like Google and Netflix on their networks.
Telecommunications companies that provide broadband and Republicans have vowed to fight the proposal, saying it will be too much of a burden on broadband providers.
By voting to move ahead with a proposal to restore net neutrality, the F.C.C. is broadening its reach.
The move will ultimately enable the agency to categorize high-speed internet as a utility, like water or electricity. That is a major step toward modernizing the agency’s objectives, especially as consumers increasingly depend on the internet as their main source for communications. The agency will then be able to police broadband providers for net neutrality violations, consumer harm and security lapses.
“Now is the time for our rules of the road for internet service providers to reflect the reality that internet access is a necessity for daily life,” Jessica Rosenworcel, the chair of the F.C.C., said in a statement.
Net neutrality is a wonky principle of equal internet access.
The idea is that broadband customers should have access to any site without interference by high-speed internet service providers. The concept, coined more than 15 years ago by Tim Wu, a Columbia law school professor, was initially developed to stop cable and telecom companies that provide internet services from blocking or slowing down the delivery of sites like Google, Netflix and Skype, which compete with them.
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