Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler made revisions to controversial net neutrality proposals ahead of a Thursday vote on them by fellow commissioners.
Wheeler's previous blessing of so-called Internet “fast lanes” has become a highly contentious issue.
Fast lanes allow Internet service providers to prioritize data traffic. Internet users such as content providers could pay them to deliver content at faster speeds. Critics say the practice is discriminatory and anti-competitive since smaller businesses may not be able to afford the fast lane.
Editor's Note: Secret Wall Street Calendar Uses Strange ‘Crash Alert System,’ Gets 18.79% Annual Returns
Wheeler has made some revisions to the proposed rules but still doesn't plan to ban fast lanes entirely,
USA Today reports.
Instead, the FCC chairman wants to restrict certain kinds of fast-lane deals and have oversight over others that may be deemed harmful to the public interest.
Even billion-dollar content companies such as Google and Netflix are in a coalition against fast lanes.
“Instead of permitting individualized bargaining and discrimination, the commission's rules should protect users and Internet companies on both fixed and mobile platforms against blocking, discrimination, and paid prioritization, and should make the market for Internet services more transparent,” the tech coalition wrote in a letter last week, USA Today reported.
Wheeler claims that much of the opposition stems from using the term “fast lane,” which stokes beliefs that those who can't pay will end up in a slow lane.
Aiming to dispel this misconception,
Bloomberg Businessweek says Wheeler has written back to the technology companies.
“I will not allow some companies to force Internet users into a slow lane so that others with special privileges can have superior service,” Wheeler was quoted as saying.
But plans to have the FCC police ISPs raises the issue of authority.
Federal courts have smacked down FCC Internet regulation attempts before. The most recent rejection came in January. The court essentially told the FCC that it couldn't regulate broadband like a utility unless broadband is reclassified as a public utility.
This is another hot-button issue.
Currently, broadband is classified as an information service. Despite a push for reclassification, Wheeler, who is a former lobbyist for the cable industry, isn't eager to pursue the change, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
He says broadband providers are more threatened by the consequences of not staying in line.
“It looks like the regulators are trying to address some of the concerns, but the reported changes don't fix the basic problems,” Delara Derakhshani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, told USA Today.
“We're still looking at the very real possibility of a 'pay-to-play' market. That's not net neutrality. We still believe the best option for achieving net neutrality and protecting consumers is reclassifying Internet service as a telecommunications service,” Derakhshani added.
Editor's Note: Secret Wall Street Calendar Uses Strange ‘Crash Alert System,’ Gets 18.79% Annual Returns
© 2025 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.