The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the return of net neutrality rules that were repealed in 2018. Of the five voting members of the commission, three voted in favor of reinstating the rules that prohibit providers from offering paid prioritization, blocking access, and throttling access to content and services that are lawfully distributed.
According to the adopted decision, broadband access will be classified as an 'information service' rather than a 'telecommunications service,' which will place content distributors and service operators on equal footing and prevent discrimination against either party. The rules will also give the FCC the authority to require providers to submit outage reports, oversee safety regulations, and monitor the resolution of issues.
Proponents of net neutrality, primarily large content providers and online services, believe all types of traffic are equally significant and oppose the discrimination of content distributors by allowing service operators to prioritize different types and sources of traffic. Such prioritization could lead to degraded access quality to certain websites and data types by boosting priority for others, and it may complicate the market entry of new services, as they would initially suffer in access quality compared to services that have paid providers for priority traffic. According to net neutrality advocates, the new rules are crucial for protecting consumer rights and preventing abuse by service operators.
Opponents of neutrality, mainly comprising internet service providers and network equipment manufacturers, advocate for the ability to prioritize different types of traffic at their discretion. This includes, for instance, collecting fees from content providers for faster access to their resources or enhancing access to their own services by throttling services of competitors. Those against the new regulations also argue that additional regulation of broadband providers will slow the development of the telecommunications industry and increase government oversight of the sector, despite the fact that net neutrality has been effectively regulated through market competition.
Source: opennet.ru
