Off the Grid: FCC To Rule on Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission will vote today on net neutrality and whether the Internet should be treated as a utility like phone service, or whether broadband service providers should be able to speed up and slow down traffic for certain types of content distributors. 

According to The White House, 

"More than any other invention of our time, the Internet has unlocked possibilities we could just barely imagine a generation ago. And there's a big reason we've seen such incredible growth and innovation: Most Internet providers have treated Internet traffic equally. That's a principle known as 'net neutrality' — and it says that an entrepreneur's fledgling company should have the same chance to succeed as established corporations, and that access to a high school student's blog shouldn't be unfairly slowed down to make way for advertisers with more money."

So if the FCC decides to define the Internet as a utility, broadband service providers like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and more won't be able to prioritize certain types of content over others. This is important because it allows companies to compete fairly and freely. 

But on the other hand, streaming based companies like Netflix or Hulu, need to deliver content quickly to consumers or their businesses will be unsuccessful. 

According to Forbes, 

"The FCC’s net-neutrality rules would prohibit mobile carriers from “blocking,” “throttling,” or “paid prioritization,” or favoring bit streams from companies that pay to get them to subscribers faster. These are all appealing goals, but the difficulty is fitting them into the way data networks actually carry traffic."

It will be interesting to see what happens and whether there will be any compromises. Read the President's statement on the issue here. 

BREAKING UPDATE as of 1 PM Eastern:

NPR reports that the FCC has ruled in favor of net neutrality this afternoon. FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler, says, 

"No one — whether government or corporate — should control free open access to the Internet."

Net neutrality passed by a 3-2 vote. 

According to Politico, 

"Wheeler’s plan will prevent ISPs from blocking or degrading legal Internet traffic and bar them from cutting deals to charge companies for so-called Internet fast lanes. It applies net neutrality protections to both land-based and wireless Internet as well as to “interconnection” points between networks deep inside the Web."

Kudos to Tom Wheeler, President Obama, and the FCC for protecting our freedom of speech and freedom of the Internet. Be sure check out the Governor's video about Internet freedom below.