President Obama Calls for Strong Rules to Protect Net Neutrality

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

Psst, FCC -- don't screw this up

As the Federal Communications Commission considers new rules for how to safeguard competition and user choice on the web, President Obama issued a lengthy statement urging for the "strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality." According to the President, the American economy is reliant on an open Internet. He also said that the principle of net neutrality is not one we can take for granted.
"I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online. The rules I am asking for are simple, common-sense steps that reflect the Internet you and I use every day, and that some ISPs already observe," Obama said in a statement.
Obama called for rules that would disallow ISPs from blocking access to a website or service, so long as the content is legal, along with ones that prohibit throttling. He also made a pitch for increased transparency, and perhaps most importantly, Obama said he is against paid prioritization, which would result in so-called "slow lanes" for services that don't pay a fee for unfettered access into consumers' homes.
"So the time has come for the FCC to recognize that broadband service is of the same importance and must carry the same obligations as so many of the other vital services do. To do that, I believe the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act — while at the same time forbearing from rate regulation and other provisions less relevant to broadband services," Obama added.
The FCC received around 3.7 million comments since chairman Tom Wheeler proposed new Internet traffic rules in May. Most of those comments were in favor of a free and open Internet without fast and slow lanes or throttling.

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