Today is your last chance to speak directly to the Federal Communications Commission in favor of or against net neutrality. Today marks the deadline for public comments on the open internet regulations proposed by the FCC earlier this year. Thus far, the FCC has received over 1.7 million public comments on the potential rule changes with more to follow as the comment period comes to a close.
The FCC’s proposed regulations would allow large content providers such as Google and Netflix to pay Internet providers for preferential treatment in terms of speed for their services in a system known as “paid prioritization.”
This approach to Internet service has mobilized net neutrality activists, who maintain that such a setup amounts to relegating non-paying websites to the Internet’s “slow lane.” The Sept. 10 Internet slowdown protest generated more than 300,000 phone calls and 782,000 comments to the FCC. Protesters spoke out in favor of reclassifying broadband Internet as a utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. Doing so, they argue, will give the FCC the authority to require ISPs to treat all web traffic equally, essentially banning paid prioritization.
Opponents of the net neutrality movement, such as former FCC chairman Michael Powell, argue that Title II reclassification and “applying telephone era rules” to the Internet would stifle network investment and give the FCC “far reaching power to regulate rates and set economic conditions.” They further argue that it is perfectly fair for ISPs to charge large companies like Netflix — which alone accounts for up to one-third of peak Internet traffic in North America — for hogging bandwidth, instead of making all users pick up the tab in the form of higher prices.
Despite the conclusion of the FCC comment period, net neutrality continues to be a contentious point of debate between activists on both sides of the issue. Although FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has stated that he hopes to have “enforceable rules by the end of the year” a more specific timetable has not been announced.
