Photo Courtesy of: Save the Internet
Net neutrality, a proposal that gives the Federal government authority to regulate internet providers the same way it does public utilities, was approved today on a straight party-line 3-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC.)
There is a lot that is still unknown about the impact of the 332-page “net neutrality” plan, in part because the plan has yet to be released to the public.
The three Democrats, who all voted in favor of the measure, say they have the authority to impose the new regulations under Title II of the Federal Communications Act of 1934.
The plan had “the most open proceeding in FCC history,” claimed Federal Communication Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler today after the vote.
Issue One: Taxes and Fees
While the FCC cannot levy taxes on the internet, it can level fees, says Politifact.
"This is essentially a massive tax increase on the middle class being passed in the dead of night without the American public really being made aware of what is going on," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote in an email through the anti-FCC regulation group Protect Internet Freedom.
On the other hand, FCC spokesperson Kim Hart told PolitiFact that the policy "does not raise taxes or fees. Period."
Issue Two: Pay for Play
The plan stops internet service providers from blocking or prioritizing certain Internet pages over other. However, there will be some “fast lanes” and exceptions for certain services like remote heart monitoring.
This raises a lot of issues for companies like Netflix (whose customers have large streaming demands) and for entrepreneurs who may have an innovation not yet imagined (smart-phone connected refrigerators for instance) inhibited by slowmoving Federal regulation. "What doesn't make sense, and has never made sense, is to take a regulatory framework developed for Ma Bell in the 1930s and make her great grandchildren, with technologies and options undreamed of eighty years ago, live under it," said Jim Cicconi, AT&T's senior executive vice president-external and legislative affairs, referring to Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, which FCC officials say grants them the authority to do this.
"We cannot have a two-tiered Internet with fast lanes that speed the traffic of the privileged and leave the rest of us lagging behind," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who supported the plan, said. "We cannot have gatekeepers who tell us what we can and cannot do and where we can and cannot go online."
Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai said the plan is a “monumental shift toward government control of the Internet” and a “rapid departure” from market-oriented approaches, The Blaze reported. Pai added, “It is sad to witness the FCC’s unprecedented attempt to replace that freedom with government control.”
Issue Three: Legal Battles Ahead
While FCC Commission Chairman Wheeler argues that the FCC has the authority to pass this plan in order to assure “the rights of Internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone’s permission,” Republicans argue that the power to regulate the internet can only be granted by Congress.
The rules agreed to today may eventually be challenged in court. Republican Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said the plan is “not likely to survive judicial scrutiny.”
If the plan negatively impacts businesses, those businesses would have standing to protest the ruling in court.
All of this depends on what exactly those 332 unreleased pages say.