Net neutrality, a set of policies designed to prevent internet-service providers from playing favorites among the websites they carry, is coming back.
In a vote Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission is poised to classify internet service as a public utility. The definition is part of a new framework the FCC will use to regulate broadband networks.
For years, internet-service providers have sparred with regulators and activists over the rules for offering internet access to consumers and businesses. Net-neutrality provisions introduced during the Obama administration were scrapped during the Trump presidency. The shifting rules haven’t radically changed how the internet is delivered to consumers or how much they pay for it.
With the FCC’s vote, internet-service providers are likely to challenge net-neutrality rules in court, meaning it could be months before they go into effect.
What does net neutrality entail?
Net-neutrality rules typically bar internet-service providers from assigning priority to certain web traffic or creating so-called fast lanes for certain websites. They also restrict providers from throttling, or slowing down, traffic to websites that don’t pay up.
Proponents say that the guardrails are critical to ensuring internet users have equal access to digital content and that deep-pocketed websites aren’t given priority over smaller ones. Without rules, advocates say that companies such as Comcast could charge content owners such as Netflix to pay extra, akin to a toll, to have its videos delivered smoothly to viewers.
Opponents of net neutrality say the rules are unnecessary and allege that the FCC is using the policy to expand its regulatory remit.
The topic crept into pop culture around 2006, when the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska) described the internet as “a series of tubes.” His metaphor was mocked as simplistic by “The Daily Show” and other media—but also captured the public imagination.
How could these rules affect consumers and their options for internet service?
That depends on whom you ask. The foundation for the commission’s new internet rules—Title II of the Communications Act—allows the regulator to intervene if it determines a company is charging unreasonable rates. The order being voted on Thursday explicitly avoids rate regulation.
Internet providers aren’t convinced it is the last word. They fear the new order will open the door for future FCC rules that regulate prices. Some states have capped what internet service providers such as Verizon Communications and AT&T could charge low-income households.
The FCC’s rules don’t prohibit providers from throttling internet service for consumers who are enrolled in plans with data allotments. The throttling would be allowed as long as the internet-service provider is transparent about its rules and the action occurs without cherry-picking certain applications or websites.
Internet providers’ practices became a flashpoint in 2018 when Verizon throttled the Santa Clara County Fire Department’s wireless internet service during a wildfire emergency. Verizon has called the throttling “a customer support mistake.” Proponents have used the episode as a reason why net neutrality rules should exist.
Haven’t we heard this before?
Yes. In 2015, the FCC, under Obama-appointed Chairman Tom Wheeler, classified internet service as a utility and imposed net-neutrality rules. Republicans called the rules a regulatory overreach. In 2017, the FCC, then under Trump-appointed Chairman Ajit Pai, rolled them back.
It has been seven years without federal net-neutrality rules, and consumers haven’t seen much change in how they experience the web. Net-neutrality opponents, including the two Republican FCC commissioners, argue that is because the rules weren’t needed in the first place.
California was among the first states to step in and implement its own net-neutrality rules. Some providers treated the state rules as a kind of de facto national standard.
Why bring the rules back?
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has said that she believes in net neutrality and that stronger regulatory authority over internet infrastructure would allow the agency to safeguard private-sector networks against cybersecurity threats.
The new rules would affect a range of companies that provide internet service, including cable companies, mobile carriers and satellite-internet providers. Those companies say the FCC’s push could bring about more regulation, including at the state level, because the order doesn’t pre-empt states from making their own rules.
Providers must file public disclosures with the FCC if they fast-lane or throttle any type of traffic. Those disclosure requirements discourage internet providers from playing favorites with internet traffic.