What is Net Neutrality?

The FCC has developed a National Broadband Plan through a series of Workshops over the past 6 months. You can access archived Webcasts of the meetings here. Net Neutrality is a term that has been used a lot in reference to these discussions.

As part of the National Broadband Plan, the FCC wants to institute new Net Neutrality rules that would allow internet providers reasonable management controls in order to lessen internet congestion. The new rules would also require that the internet providers inform their subscribers of what restrictions would apply. The reasonable management controls are what a lot of groups are concerned about. The final draft of the FCC National Broadband Plan will be delivered to Congress on March 17, 2010.

One of the goals of the National Broadband Plan is to have internet service available by 2020 to 100 million Americans with speeds of at least 100 megabits per second. Mr. Genachowski, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has indicated that the U.S. should have a goal of having 90% of Americans with access to the internet in their homes and businesses. By the way, the 100 megabits of access speed is a lot faster than we have now. All of this is being funded by the National Recovery Plan. At least the study has been funded by the Recovery Plan.

The Plan will also be proposing ways to increase competition between internet providers. With companies such as DirecTV reporting losses it's difficult to see how this can be done. In a lot of areas there just aren't many choices. Some have suggested that the internet providers are interested in trying to control internet access much like we receive our current cable TV service. By offering different levels of service based on cost. This would also be where Net Neutrality would come into play.

This is an important issue that requires all of us to pay attention. The details of this plan have not been released. We may see some bits and pieces of information trickle out before March 17, but it will be interesting to see what all this plan entails.

Following is a statement that President Obama made on Net Neutrality. You can view these comments on YouTube here.

"I'm a big believer in Net Neutrality. I campaigned on this. I continue to be a strong supporter of it. My FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has indicated that he shares the view that we've got to keep the Internet open, that we don't want to create a bunch of gateways that prevent somebody who doesn't have a lot of money but has a good idea from being able to start their next YouTube or their next Google on the Internet."

"This is something we're committed to. We're getting pushback, obviously, from some of the bigger carriers who would like to be able to charge more fees and extract more money from wealthier customers. But we think that runs counter to the whole spirit of openness that has made the Internet such a powerful engine for not only economic growth, but also for the generation of ideas and creativity."

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP01t0Z4Hr8

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2010/01/the-uneven-fault-lines-cause-by-the-fccs-net-neutrality-proposal.html

http://blog.broadband.gov/?entryId=172701

http://blog.broadband.gov/?entryId=172759

http://www.broadband.gov/workshops.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315004575073220907227974.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.0406304:b30854094

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS348124681720091022