“The internet must be fast, fair and open,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a recent article he wrote for WIRED. “That is the message I’ve heard from consumers and innovators across this nation. That is the principle that has enabled the internet to become an unprecedented platform for innovation and human expression.”
Tom has a plan and that is to reclassify internet service providers as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. If passed on February 26th, the reclassified common carriers would have to provide service to the public without discrimination, thus ensuring net neutrality.
Implementation of Title II:
Internet providers will not be able to block any websites or data services as long as they’re legal
Internet providers will not be able to throttle any sites or services
Internet providers will not be allowed to have paid fast lanes
A Call To Arms:
There is a war brewing as we move closer to the sure-to-be leaked details on the implementation of Title II. AT&T is already preparing to take this to court. In November they stated, “reclassification will endanger further investment in America’s superior networks.”
Although many specify that net neutrality is not a “secret plan to crush innovation,” as AT&T and Verizon have called it. Customers, sites, and web architects want innovation. No one wants to be left in the dark ages. The internet is a place of innovation and progress. The proponents of net neutrality merely want to keep the internet the open forum of innovation that it has always been.
Whatever the outcome, the internet is going to transform, hopefully for the better.
