FCC Delays Vote on Net Neutrality Laws
Last month, President Obama urged the FCC to “reclassify consumer broadband services under Title II of the Telecommunications Act – while at the same time forbearing from rate regulation and other provisions less relevant to broadband services.” Theoretically, under “Title II” regulation, the FCC would be able to regulate broadband services as a utility (e.g., telephone service) but could decide not to apply certain provisions to broadband services, including rate regulations, that might impede market competition. The FCC announced that it would delay its vote on net neutrality rules until early 2015.
Tech giants such as Intel, IBM, and Qualcomm submitted an open letter discouraging the FCC from classifying broadband services under Title II, claiming that the regulations would strangle investment and innovation in broadband technology.
The FCC’s decision comes at a critical time, after a federal district court effectively struck down the FCC’s prior attempt to regulate internet access (FCC Open Internet Order 2010) earlier this year. Additionally, although the U.S. still fares well in the World Wide Web Foundation’s recent annual “Web Index” report, the report identifies certain facets of the broadband service industry that may pose threats to equal access and neutral content, such as widening economic inequality (exacerbated by cable/telephone company monopolies), price discrimination, and surveillance.
For additional background on this topic, visit my colleague’s June 2014 post on net neutrality.
IP Legal Forum | Wendel Rosen Business & Legal Updates 
One Response to “FCC Delays Vote on Net Neutrality Laws”
[…] Should your Internet service provider be regulated in the same manner as your telephone service provider? Despite how quaint this question might sound now that many consumers bundle their ISP, telephone and television service through the same company, this issue has been the source of raging debate throughout the country (and abroad). In a vote held on February 27, 2015, the FCC voted 3-2 along party lines to approve reclassifying high-speed Internet service as a telecommunications service, instead of an information service, under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. Your Internet service will now be regulated as a public utility. Prior to last month’s vote, the FCC had delayed a decision on proposed rules in December of 2014. […]
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