The outcome caps a nearly-16-month push by Genachowski to pass “network neutrality’’ rules and marks a key turning point in a policy dispute that began more than five years ago.
“The open Internet is a crucial American marketplace, and I believe that it is appropriate for the FCC to safeguard it by adopting an order that will establish clear rules to protect consumers’ access,’’ commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Clyburn and the other Democrat, Michael Copps, both said the rules are not as strong as they would like, even after Genachowski made some changes to address their concerns.
That sentiment was echoed by some public interest groups yesterday.
“The actions by the Federal Communications Commission fall far short of what they could have been,’’ said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. “Instead of strong, firm rules providing clear protections, the commission, created a vague and shifting landscape open to interpretation.’’
A number of big Internet companies, including Netflix Inc., Skype, and Amazon.com Inc., have previously expressed reservations about the proposal as well.
Meanwhile, even the weakened rules are likely to face intense scrutiny as soon as the Republicans take over the House next year.
The proposed rules would require broadband providers to let subscribers access all legal online content, applications, and services over their wired networks — including online calling services, Internet video, and other Web applications that compete with their core businesses.
But the plan would give broadband providers flexibility to manage data on their systems to deal with problems such as network congestion and unwanted traffic like spam as long as they publicly disclose their network management practices.
Senior FCC officials stressed that unreasonable network discrimination would be prohibited.
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