FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, following the lead of Pres. Barack Obama, proposed a strong rule to protect net neutrality. As Wheeler explains in a Wired article, he will seek the FCC to reclassify broadband service as a telecommunications service subject to common carrier requirements under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934:
"Using this authority, I am submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC. These enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. I propose to fully apply—for the first time ever—those bright-line rules to mobile broadband. My proposal assures 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."
The dramatic shift in the FCC's position is a huge (though not final) victory for the grassroots Internet community in the United States, which coordinated numerous protests and demonstrations in support of strong net neutrality rules. The FCC will vote on the proposal later this month on February 26.
The Proposal includes 3 bright-line rules:
Bright Line Rules: The first three rules would ban practices that are known to harm the Open Internet:
- No Blocking: broadband providers may not block access to legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
- No Throttling: broadband providers may not impair or degrade lawful Internet traffic on the basis of content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices.
- No Paid Prioritization: broadband providers may not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful traffic in exchange for consideration – in other words, no “fast lanes.” This rule also bans ISPs from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates.
ISPs may engage in "reasonable network management." "However, the network practice must be primarily used for and tailored to achieving a legitimate network management—and not commercial—purpose. For example, a provider can’t cite reasonable network management to justify reneging on its promise to supply a customer with 'unlimited' data."