By June, the “Preserving the Open Internet” order, or net neutrality, will go into effect.
The order, issued by the Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 23, will control the way Internet service providers regulate the Internet. Net neutrality requires broadband providers to be clear in their terms of service, rates, conditions and other factors. It forbids providers from blocking lawful content, applications and services. It also prohibits fixed broadband providers from discriminating against traffic on their networks.
David R. Cleveland, associate professor of law, said the law keeps the Internet open for people to get what they want.
“What the FCC fears is that Internet service providers could discriminate against content such as their competitors’ advertisements,” Cleveland said. “They fear the creation of a system where people have to pay more to get more features. They say that the Internet should be neutral. It shouldn’t preference other data over other data because of Internet service providers.”
Cleveland said that there are oppositions to the rules.
“Opponents say we live in a free market, and if they feel the ISPs need to charge more, so be it. [They say] it’s too much government interference,” he said.
While the first rule, called transparency, requires ISPs to publicly disclose information about their management practices, an ISP can still charge customers for different levels of Internet service, but they must clearly inform consumers.
Cleveland said that in the third rule “unreasonable discrimination” means that ISPs cannot discriminate or prioritize content on the network.
Mark Wigfield, spokesperson for the FCC said, “Reasonable discrimination would be blocking spam, viruses or malware. But you could see why a partner of a service provider would want to pay so that its services would be faster than a similar service.”
Wigfield said the rules will not create noticeable changes in the use of the Internet.
“Largely, what the rules do is preserve the Internet the way it is now, so this is not a big change,” Wigfield said. “[Users] shouldn’t notice a huge change. But when they do sign up for Internet service, they should have better information about the service.”
