The FCC began in earnest Thursday to assert its primacy on how the internet will be governed, crafting rules that will have a long-term impact on the devices, services and apps we’ll be able to use on broadband.
The agency, which regulates the nation’s communications services, is scrambling to find solid legal ground to keep an eye on broadband providers, after a federal court ruled it lacked the authority to force ISPs to adhere to its so-called “Internet Freedoms.” Under the proposed rules, ISPs would be required to let customers use the software, services and hardware of their choice so long as they didn’t harm the network — the same principles that have been in place during the explosion of innovation on the internet over the last 14 years.
But when FCC tried to use these rules to stop Comcast from blocking peer-to-peer file sharing, the cable and internet giant challenged them in court, and won.
The FCC is now asking the public and industry to comment on three possible ways forward: Leave things as the are, reclassify broadband using all of the complicated rules that apply to the phone system, or reclassify broadband applying only a few of those rules.
FCC head Julius Genachowski prefers the last of the three options, which he dubs the “Third Way.” He is finding support from supporters of net neutrality, including public interest groups and industry giants like Google, but is facing opposition from free-market groups and the nations’ ISPs and wireless carriers.
