Last week, Verizon and Google announced an Internet neutrality proposal. Several Democrats feel that it does not provide the government with enough mobile Internet regulation authority. They think that the FCC should be given more “oversight authority” and be permitted to create new regulations for wireless services.
This puts the FCC in an interesting spot in light of the 2008 cease and desist order it placed on Comcast. The issue surrounded Comcast’s act of slowing BitTorrent transfers prior to ending them later in 2008. A federal appeals court overturned the FCC ruling, stating that the FCC was not authorized to regulate Net neutrality.
Since then, liberal groups have pushed the FCC to develop new regulations, despite opposition from Congress. Google and Verizon have now proposed some concepts to serve as a workable compromise. The Democrats who have issue with this proposal feel that if the FCC is not granted more authority when it comes to wireless services, people accessing the wireless Internet through a mobile device will have a substandard and less open browsing experience.
Those who support Net neutrality feel that new Internet regulations or laws must be developed to prevent restriction of content or priority ranking of certain types of traffic by broadband providers. They believe that Internet access services need to be subject to common regulations to protect user rights regarding access of desired content and services. Broadband providers think that some of these regulations would block innovation and result in disjointed priority ranking of issues.
The response to the Google-Verizon proposal by the small group of Democrats may only be symbolic in nature, designed to support an FCC controlled by Democrats. However, it may also serve as a call to arms for special interest groups. Free Press political adviser Joel Kelsey believes that the proposal submitted by Google and Verizon may “transform the free and open Internet into a closed platform like cable television.”
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