New Rules Aim to Keep Internet Free and Open

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined broad and explicit guidelines to Internet service providers in a speech Monday in Washington. He said his agency must act to preserve an open Internet.

"Saying nothing -- and doing nothing -- would impose its own form of unacceptable cost," Genachowski said. "It would deprive innovators and investors of confidence that the free and open Internet we depend upon today will still be here tomorrow."

A debate about what is fair

	FCC Chairman Genachowski is in charge of the agency that oversees U.S. communication services like phone companies, TV and the Internet.

There are many different ways to connect to the Internet: through companies such as Comcast, which provides hundreds of television channels; large landline and cell phone companies such as Verizon and AT&T; satellite companies and other services.

At issue is whether these Internet providers can use these broadband connections as private toll roads, selling higher speed to companies that pay for premium service.  For example, the Internet phone service Skype might work well if the company paid for extra bandwidth, but it might not work well if your Internet provider has a competing phone service.

Under Genachowski's strategy, broadband providers cannot discriminate against particular Internet content or applications, block or degrade traffic on their networks "or pick winners by favoring some content or applications over others in the connection to subscribers' homes."

Nor can providers block or slow sites they compete with, such as Web-based news, music or video.

Internet providers argue connectivity is expensive

	Service provider AT&T expressed concern that government regulation would limit how data wireless users would have access to.

President Obama backs the idea of net neutrality. In a pre-election interview published in Wired magazine, the candidate said Internet providers have the power to "destroy one of the best things about the Internet--which is that there is this incredible equality there."

Consumer groups and Internet companies like Amazon and Google were thrilled with the FCC's announcement. 

But Comcast and other Internet providers have long argued that they laid the cable and other broadband infrastructure, so they should be able to manage the large flow of information in and out of homes, offices and schools.

U.S. wireless carriers complain that opening their networks to data-heavy applications like streaming video, could push them beyond the limited capacity they have. Already, the high concentration of iPhones in some areas has degraded AT&T's service.

AT&T restricted an Internet-phone service from Skype and another from Google so iPhone users couldn't place calls on AT&T's cellular network.

"We believe that this kind of regulation is unnecessary in the competitive wireless space as it would prevent carriers from managing their networks -- such as curtailing viruses and other harmful content -- to the benefit of their consumers," said Chris Guttman-McCabe of CTIA, the wireless industry's trade group.

New regulations could change the way wireless carriers charge for data plans or even cap how much bandwidth individuals get, according to Jupiter Research.

Resistance from some politicians

	Click here to check out the OpenInternet.gov site.

Immediately after the FCC's announcement, a top Republican senator introduced legislation to block net neutrality rules.

Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson said new rules are unnecessary and will suffocate Internet innovation.

She attached and amendment to a funding bill for the Interior Department that said the "The Federal Communications Commission shall not expend any funds from any account in fiscal year 2010— (1) to implement any internet neutrality or network management principles; or (2) to promulgate any rules relating to such principles."

“We must tread lightly when it comes to new regulations,” she said. “The case has simply not been made for what amounts to a significant regulatory intervention into a vibrant marketplace.”

Genachowski stressed in his speech that his proposal is "about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the Internet. We will do as much as we need to do, and no more, to ensure that the Internet remains an unfettered platform for competition, creativity, and entrepreneurial activity."

With the new policy came a new Web site: OpenInternet.gov that offers users a chance to comment on the policy and links to other FCC efforts, including a blog dedicated to expanding broadband access.