The acrimonious battle over "net neutrality" in America comes to a head Thursday with a US agency set to vote to roll back rules enacted two years earlier aimed at preventing a "two-speed" internet.

The Federal Communications Commission was expected to narrowly pass the measure to scrap the 2015 neutrality rules, which require internet service providers to treat all online traffic equally without blocking or hampering of rivals.

Backers of the new proposal say it would encourage innovation and investment by removing heavy regulatory burdens. But critics argue it could kill the "open internet" and enable broadband firms to choose what people see or don't see online.

The rollback is being engineered by FCC chairman Ajit Pai, appointed by President Donald Trump.

As a member of the FCC, Pai was a fierce critic of the neutrality rules adopted in 2015 and earlier this month unveiled his plan named the "Restoring Internet Freedom" order.

Amid a wave of protests from online firms and activists opposing the new plan, Pai said his reforms would usher in a return to a "light-touch regulatory approach" that has allowed the internet to flourish.

The dispute over net neutrality has been the subject of several court battles over the past decade, with backers arguing strong rules are needed to guard against powerful broadband firms like Comcast and AT&T acting as "gatekeepers" that can punish rivals.

Tim Berners-Lee, the British engineer and creator of the World Wide Web, joined other internet pioneers in pleading for neutrality rules to remain.

"Net neutrality -- the principle that internet service providers (ISPs) treat all traffic equally -- underpins the internet as we know it today," Berners-Lee wrote on the online platform Medium this week.

If the rules are repealed, Berners-Lee said, "ISPs will have the power to decide which websites you can access and at what speed each will load. In other words, they'll be able to decide which companies succeed online, which voices are heard -- and which are silenced."

- 'New-age Nostradamuses' -

But Michael Powell, a former FCC chairman who in 2005 evoked the principle of "four internet freedoms" -- which some say parallel net neutrality -- said activists are stirring a tempest in a teapot.

"New-age Nostradamuses predict the internet will stop working, democracy will collapse, plague will ensue and locusts will cover the land," Powell said in a guest blog for the website Recode.

"Sadly, rational debate, like Elvis, has left the building." said Powell, who now heads the lobby group for broadband firms called NCTA - the Internet & Television Association.

Powell maintained that broadband firms "highly value the open internet and the principles of net neutrality, much more than some animated activists would have you think... because it's a better way of making money than a closed internet."

Backers of the Pai plan say little will change and that any discriminatory conduct will be dealt with by another agency, the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws.

Still, the debate has hit a feverish pitch, with street protests in many cities and online, where websites ranging from Kickstarter to Pornhub putting up notices warning of the harmful potential from a rollback.

The FCC's online platform has been caught in the firestorm, with one investigation showing two million of 21 million public comments were sent with stolen identities.

Thirty-nine senators signed a letter urging the FCC to delay the vote, claiming that Pai's assertion that the plan would "restore" regulations of the past was incorrect.

"Even under the Bush-era FCC, the agency adopted open internet principles," the letter said. "The future of the internet hangs in the balance."

Questions and answers on 'net neutrality'
Washington (AFP) Dec 13, 2017 - US regulators are set to vote Thursday on a plan overhauling rules for internet services providers. The action by the Federal Communications Commission is likely to end so-called "net neutrality." Here are some questions and answers:

- What is net neutrality and why is it important? -

The concept dates back to the early days of the web, and requires internet service providers to treat all data equally -- prohibiting the blocking of sites or services for competitive reasons, and banning "fast" and "slow" lanes for different kinds of online traffic.

Backers of net neutrality argue that the handful of high-speed US internet service providers have incentives to block or degrade services that compete with their own offerings, in areas such as streaming video, calling or even web search.

FCC rollback backers argue that neutrality rules crimp broadband firms and prevent investment in new high-speed services such as video conferencing, telemedicine and connected vehicles that would need "fast lanes."

- How did we get here? -

The debate has been raging for over a decade with court and administrative challenges. Neutrality activists have staged street and online protests, backed by many major tech firms and Hollywood celebrities. The large broadband firms meanwhile have invested heavily in lobbying.

Tim Wu, the law professor who coined the term "net neutrality," said the concept dates back to the 1970s, when regulators sought to ensure that the telecom monopoly at the time, AT&T, did not block or discriminate against emerging data services over phone lines.

The FCC in the early 2000s sought to enshrine these concepts in rulemaking, but federal courts twice ruled the agency lacked authority because internet service providers (ISPs) were not "common carriers" like phone companies.

In 2015, the FCC got around the court rulings by declaring that broadband firms were in fact "common carriers" that may be regulated under a 1934 law. This angered ISPs and their backers who feared it would open the door to price controls and "heavy-handed" regulation.

Ajit Pai, appointed FCC chair by President Donald Trump, signaled his intent to roll back the 2015 rules, claiming it would restore a "light touch" regulatory approach, calling it the "Restore Internet Freedom" plan.

Critics contend the plan could kill the open internet as we know it. Activists say Pai is doing more than just rolling back the clock, pointing out that net neutrality has been largely enforced under both Republican and Democratic administrations, citing the "four internet freedoms" outlined in 2005 by then-chairman Michael Powell.

- Is net neutrality dead? -

It remains unclear how the big ISPs will respond. Their main trade group has pledged the firms would refrain from blocking, throttling or degrading any "lawful" content or application.

"There would be a great deal of resistance" to any type of discrimination, says Doug Brake, a policy analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank.

"And it's not just social pressure," Brake said, noting that any effort to block competing services could invite antitrust scrutiny and likely lead to strict neutrality rules in a new administration.

- What happens now? -

The large broadband firms -- including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon -- say nothing will change in how the internet operates, but that they will have a freer hand to innovate and invest in new technologies.

Instead of simply blocking rivals, the ISPs may step up special offers for customers, such as free access to sports from mobile devices.

However, the new measure is likely to face court challenges, "with advocates arguing that the conclusions made by the agency are inconsistent with how the internet functions," according to Ferris Vinh, policy counsel at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a digital rights organization.

Some activists fear ISPs will seek to extract higher fees from services which are heavy data users such as Netflix or other streaming services, with these costs passed on to consumers.

More likely to feel the pain would be new startups without the resources of Google or Facebook.

"What this fight is really about is whether the next generation of tech companies will have the space to innovate and spread new ideas," Vinh said.

The FCC says its new plan requires "transparency" from internet firms and that complaints would be investigated by another agency, the Federal Trade Commission, which deals with consumer protection and antitrust matters.

- What does this mean for the global internet? -

Many countries around the world look to the US to set standards, but each country has its own rules. The European Union has guidelines on net neutrality, but each country implements its own rules.

The US situation is unique because it relies on private carriers creating and investing in their own networks, while many other countries share network infrastructure from a current or former telecom monopoly.

The new rules, backers say, are adapted for the US systems.

"The hope is it incentivize companies to explore new technologies and develop new ways to compete in a high fixed-cost industry," Brake said.

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With new internet rules set for vote, firestorm won't die
Washington (AFP) Dec 10, 2017
US regulators are gearing up for a vote on a plan which - depending on your viewpoint - would "restore internet freedom" or, alternatively, result in "the death of the internet" as we know it. The Federal Communications Commission will consider a rollback of its 2015 order aimed at enforcing "net neutrality," or the notion of treating all data and content providers equally. FCC chairma ... read more

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