The FCC voted 3-2 (along the usual party lines) to approve the Open Internet Order or as the media refers to it, NET NEUTRALITY. I suppose a set of rules that has brought condemnation from both sides of the argument can’t be all that bad. Consumers received some protections with a non-blocking rule subject to reasonable network management. As expected, the FCC did not approve its third-way approach (Title II reclassification with forbearance of many statutes). And the agency also decided to leave mobile broadband to its own devices, so to speak.
I was most curious about the fate of specialized services, the new category of vaguely defined advanced (or as the Google-Verizon proposal put it “additional”) capabilities that was in the FCC’s original Notice of Proposed Rule Making issued back in late 2009. And which the FCC asked for additional comments again in September 2010.
Anyway, after the FCC’s barrage of questions and stated concerns—most significantly over anti-competitive practices and re-allocation of telecom investments—it ultimately took the completely radical stance of doing nothing.Continue reading