14 DAY TRIAL // How important is net neutrality? Well, nearly 150 companies have just joined forces and sent an open letter to the FCC, while another 100,000 Americans have spoken for this matter.
“During the past few weeks, tens of thousands of consumers, companies, entrepreneurs, investors, schools, educators, healthcare providers and other have reached out to ask me to keep the Internet free and open,” writes Mignon Clyburn, FCC commissioner.
She explains that while the calls, emails and letters are new, her commitment to Internet freedom is not and that she’s been making efforts to preserve a free and open Internet for many years.
Clyburn then spoke about approving the 2010 Open Internet order, when she voiced several concerns about the scope of the rules and the legal theory upon which the Order was based.
Firstly, she says she’d have applied the fixed rules to mobile services and prohibited pay for priority arrangements altogether. Then, she says that she would have made an open Internet to everyone and encouraged the Commission to monitor whether the exceptions in the Order jeopardized the net neutrality principle.
Finally, at the time, she reiterated her preference regarding the Commission’s legal authority over broadband Internet access service.
However, things didn’t go her way and the final version of the 2010 Open Internet order was not really complete, eventually leading to a big failure in court. Clyburg mentions that in January, the D.C. Circuit disagreed with the FCC’s legal approach and told the Commission that it had no legal power to impose net neutrality rules on ISPs.
The commissioner is trying to see the silver lining of this entire story and says she believes that this is a chance to take another look and evaluate the policy in light of the many developments that took place over the years.
Just recently, nearly 150 tech companies have joined forces to demand the FCC not to create Internet fast lanes as it has been reported by the media based on leaked information about the Commission’s plans for net neutrality.
According to reports, the ISPs would be granted the right to charge content creators more for access to the Internet fast lane, basically creating a tiered business model. This would eventually lead to increased costs for content providers and, therefore, for consumers. It also goes against the very principle of net neutrality, and makes ISPs rich as they take money from both companies and consumers.