Obama urges FCC to protect the Internet

Time - President Barack Obama called on Monday for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify broadband Internet service as a utility, a move that would spark a major legislative and legal battle between lawmakers, advocates and the telecommunications industry and sets up a showdown with one of the President’s own appointees.

“I believe the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act,” Obama wrote, a move that would be necessary for the federal government to enforce Obama’s proposed Internet content rule fulfilling four principles: preventing Internet Service Providers from blocking access to legal content, keeping them from “throttling” some types of Internet traffic, apply net neutrality rules between ISPs and the rest of the Internet, and banning paid-prioritization, the practice by which some content would be stuck in a “slow lane” unless a higher fee is paid. Those rules, Obama said, should also be applied to mobile broadband networks.

Obama’s comments Monday follow public outcry over FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s most recent net neutrality proposal, which many say could allow ISPs to create “fast lanes” and “slow lanes” for some Internet content. Wheeler, an Obama nominee and former telecom lobbyist, offered that proposal after an appeals court in January struck down his agency’s prior net neutrality rules. The FCC is also reportedly considering a hybrid approach that would apply strict regulation on Internet traffic between providers, while putting a lighter touch on “last-mile” traffic between consumers’ providers and their homes.

“Today, I am asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to answer the call of almost 4 million public comments, and implement the strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality,” Obama said. “I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online.”