F.C.C. Approves Net Neutrality Rules, Classifying Broadband Internet Service as a Utility (original) (raw)
Technology|F.C.C. Approves Net Neutrality Rules, Classifying Broadband Internet Service as a Utility
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/technology/net-neutrality-fcc-vote-internet-utility.html
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F.C.C. Rules in Favor of Net Neutrality
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, announced a decision to regulate broadband as a public utility, which had been called for by President Obama.
SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Wheeler, FCC Chairman “This decision is pro-broadband. This decision is pro-competition, and this decision is for the right of Americans through their elected local officials to make their own decisions about their broadband future.” UPSOUND on vote: ‘All those in favor say I. Opposed, say No. The I’s have it, the item is carried.”
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, announced a decision to regulate broadband as a public utility, which had been called for by President Obama.CreditCredit...Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press
- Feb. 26, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to regulate broadband Internet service as a public utility, a milestone in regulating high-speed Internet service into American homes.
Tom Wheeler, the commission chairman, said the F.C.C. was using “all the tools in our toolbox to protect innovators and consumers” and preserve the Internet’s role as a “core of free expression and democratic principles.”
The new rules, approved 3 to 2 along party lines, are intended to ensure that no content is blocked and that the Internet is not divided into pay-to-play fast lanes for Internet and media companies that can afford it and slow lanes for everyone else. Those prohibitions are hallmarks of the net neutrality concept.
Explaining the reason for the regulation, Mr. Wheeler, a Democrat, said that Internet access was “too important to let broadband providers be the ones making the rules.”
Mobile data service for smartphones and tablets, in addition to wired lines, is being placed under the new rules. The order also includes provisions to protect consumer privacy and to ensure that Internet service is available to people with disabilities and in remote areas.
Before the vote, each of the five commissioners spoke and the Republicans delivered a scathing critique of the order as overly broad, vague and unnecessary. Ajit Pai, a Republican commissioner, said the rules were government meddling in a vibrant, competitive market and were likely to deter investment, undermine innovation and ultimately harm consumers.
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