FCC chair proposes strict net-neutrality rules
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday proposed regulating Internet service providers like public utilities, moving closer to implementing aggressive rules on an industry that has seen little government oversight.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that by placing broadband Internet providers such as Comcast and Verizon Wireless under a stricter regulatory framework, the government would ensure an open Internet for consumers. Under the new regime, broadband providers would be explicitly banned from blocking content or creating fast lanes for Web services that can pay for preferential treatment in American homes.
The proposal is the latest in a year-long struggle by Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry, to create "net neutrality" rules, amid calls for strong rules from consumer groups and fierce opposition by deep-pocketed telecom and cable companies.
The proposed rules are much more aggressive than many had initially predicted and are likely to be challenged in court. Republicans in Congress have already begun looking for ways to block FCC action on the issue. Just a few months ago, Wheeler appeared ready to side with Internet providers looking for little or no new regulations. But after much prodding, including protests in his driveway and a public plea from President Barack Obama, Wheeler wrote in an article published Wednesday in Wired magazine that the industry needs strong oversight.
"My proposal assures the rights of Internet users to go where they want, when they want," Wheeler wrote, "and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone's permission."
It all adds up to the most significant intervention undertaken by federal regulators to make sure the Web remains a level playing field. The FCC is expected to vote on Wheeler's proposed rules Feb. 26.
In the article, Wheeler said that he wants to regulate Internet providers with the most aggressive tool at his disposal: Title II of the Communications Act. In addition to covering fixed broadband providers such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the draft rules would cover wireless providers such as T-Mobile and Sprint. The rules would also make speeding up or slowing down Web traffic -- a tactic known as prioritization -- illegal. And it would ban the blocking of Web traffic outright.
The draft rules seek to impose a modified version of Title II, which was originally written to regulate telephone companies. It will waive a number of provisions, including parts of the law that empower the FCC to set retail prices -- something Internet providers fear above all.
"This is a historic moment for applying the Communications Act to preserve freedom of expression," said Gene Kimmelman, president of the consumer group Public Knowledge. "By using targeted nondiscrimination policing powers, I think the FCC chairman is doing more today to protect and promote freedom of expression than we've seen in decades of debate about how broadband services should be treated."
The announcement reflects a major turning point for Internet regulation, and a huge moment in the history of the Web. Wheeler's proposed rules for Internet providers stand to determine who is allowed to charge for services -- and how.
Wheeler's proposal immediately drew criticism from Republicans in Congress and Internet providers, who have warned that strong regulations would make it difficult to operate and force them to curtail investment in infrastructure that would broaden the Internet's availability.
The proposed rules "will result in a backward-looking new regulatory regime, ill-suited for the dynamic Internet, with far reaching and troubling consequences," Michael Powell, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, said in a statement.
"We believe that such a significant expansion of the FCC's authority is unnecessary and will only deliver further uncertainty instead of legally enforceable rules that everyone supports."
Wheeler wasn't always sold on what Obama called the "strongest possible rules" for net neutrality. Then came a late-night comedian named John Oliver. Oliver, who made a name for himself on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," took on the FCC's initial proposal with a blistering, 14-minute rant that accused the agency of undermining net neutrality -- and even lobbed a few bombs at Wheeler himself.
Oliver's net-neutrality segment kicked the grass-roots organizing machine into overdrive. Proponents of stronger rules flooded the FCC with millions of comments calling for strong rules. In all, Americans filed about 4 million comments to the FCC -- smashing through the previous record, which belonged to Janet Jackson's infamous Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction."
Then on Nov. 10, Obama dropped a major statement on net neutrality -- an unusual attempt to influence an independent agency. Obama's statement helped push Wheeler toward implementing aggressive regulations under Title II, numerous officials inside and outside the agency have said. Many suggested that Wheeler was boxed in.
"Oliver and the president were probably the two most prominent [turning points]," said an industry official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, "and then a series of ongoing drip, drip, drip every day for several months" by grass-roots protesters.
As the inevitability of aggressive rules grew, Internet providers turned to Congress. In a last-ditch effort at preempting action by the FCC, industry officials have lobbied congressional Republicans to act on the issue. But Republican and Democratic lawmakers have not come to any consensus,, and the debate is likely to be complicated by Wheeler's proposal.
"Title II is going to answer a couple of questions, but it's going to spawn scores more questions that are going to be debated and litigated for years to come," said Robert McDowell, a former Republican FCC commissioner.