In a 3-2 vote today, a divided FCC passed net neutrality regulations aimed at preventing broadband providers from discriminating against certain content and services or favoring their business partners.
Genachowski said the regulations will prohibit broadband providers from abusing their control over the on-ramps that consumers use to get onto the Internet. He said the companies won’t be able to determine where their customers can go and what they can do online.
“Today, for the first time, we are adopting rules to preserve basic Internet values,” Genachowski said. “For the first time, we’ll have enforceable rules of the road to preserve Internet freedom and openness.”
The three Democrats voted to pass the rules, while the two Republicans opposed them. Those opposed say that these are “unnecessary regulations” as broadband providers have already pledged not to discriminate against Internet traffic on their networks. Republicans and others opposed to the regulations insist that these new rules are intended to fix a problem that does not exist.
“The Internet will be no more open tomorrow than it is today,” said Meredith Attwell Baker, a Republican.
Still, those for the regulations don’t feel enough was done today to ensure true “net neutrality.” Wireless providers were given more leeway in how they manage their networks because of their limited bandwidth. Providers were also given some considerations to “experiment with routing traffic from specialized services such as smart grids and home security systems over dedicated networks as long as these services are separate from the public Internet.”
via Yahoo! News
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