The Federal Communications Commission approved a proposal that would ban Internet providers from blocking or slowing down access to websites but may let them charge content companies for faster and more reliable delivery of their traffic to users.
The vote, not surprisingly, fell along party lines, with Wheeler and fellow Democrats Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel approving the plan and Republicans Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly rejecting it. The action opens a four-month comment period for companies and members of the public to weigh in on the plan. After that, the FCC will write the final rule.
Responding to vocal public opposition to his proposal, Wheeler defended the new regulations, saying they are intended to preserve an “open” Internet and would prevent discrimination of content.
Officially, FCC implemented the principle of net neutrality in 2010. The concept approved by agency allows to provide equality of all services, sites and the Internet companies during the work with providers.
The net neutrality principle says that all content online should be treated equally by Internet service providers. According to this principle the whole traffic must be passed with the same maximum speed regardless of its source.
Many American providers such as Verizon, AT&T and others support network neutrality rules. They demand from FCC the ability to charge additional fee for separate services traffic.
A large number of the innovative companies want to preserve the net neutrality principles. At the beginning of May Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo and a set of other companies addressed to FCC the letter in which the cancellation of network neutrality named deadly threat to the Internet, their views were supported in the White House.
