NYTimes Editorial Board: The FCC Wants To Let Telecoms Cash In on the Internet (nytimes.com)

The New York Times' Editorial Board writes: The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to let Comcast, Verizon and other broadband companies turn the internet into a latter-day version of cable TV, in which they decide what customers can watch and how much they pay for that content. That's essentially what would happen under the proposal by the chairman, Ajit Pai, to abandon the commission's network neutrality rules, which prevent telecom companies from interfering with how their customers use the internet. Net neutrality prevents those companies from having companies like Amazon pay a fee to get their content delivered more quickly than their rivals', and from having the firms throttle other services and websites, even blocking customer access to, say, Netflix or an online newspaper. Under Mr. Pai's proposal, telecom companies would effectively be allowed to sell you a basic internet plan that might include only limited access to Google and email. For Facebook and Twitter you might need a slightly more expensive deluxe plan. The premium plan might include access to Netflix and Amazon. Oh, and by the way, media businesses eager to gain more users could pay broadband companies to be included in their enhanced basic or deluxe plans. Further reading: Associated Press fact check: Net-neutrality claims leave out key context; The death of the Internet.

Comments

They should have done it right the first time

[sycodon]

When Obama decreed Net Neutrality he of course fucked it up. Instead of getting new laws passed, he simply had the FCC implement rules treating them like Common Carriers.

The problem with that is a Common Carrier status comes with a boatload of other, unrelated baggage and also results in the Federal Government having defacto control over the internet. Far from Obama's net neutrality returning us to the days of the Wild West, it laid the ground work for complete federal control over it.

What needs to be done is a brand New Law specific to data services that prohibits any kind of traffic shaping or other restrictions.

1. If you sell X speed. That must be available to the user 24/7.
2. If you can't do that, expand your capacity.