Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler recently proposed a new set of rules that will govern how the government and businesses treat the internet.
The FCC chairman, in a move that surprised the congress, proposed that Internet Service Providers be classified under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, allowing everyone equal access to the internet.
Basically, the reclassification of the internet as a telecommunications service will give the FCC authority to regulate prices to ensure a fair market, which is far from the proposed set of rules last year on broadband "fast lanes", essentially proposing minimal regulation of Internet Service Providers, as reported by Time.
Wheeler's proposal was met with mixed reactions. Long advocates of Title II reclassification lauded the proposal, calling it a "great step forward" towards a free and open internet. Others met the news with more sobriety, citing that the FCC, as an agency, still needs to approve the proposal.
The proposed set of rules has also been met with questioning and hostility from various ISPs. The "FCC has to defend reclassification before an appellate court, it will have to grapple with these and other arguments", AT&T's Hank Hultquist said in a statement, "Those who oppose efforts at compromise because they assume Title II rests on bullet proof legal theories are only deceiving themselves."
Basically, the ISPs who will be affected by this ruling could already be preparing lawsuits to counter the FCC, should the proposal be accepted. Then, the future of the internet would be decided offline and in the court.
What should you know about net neutrality? Here's the best explanation from "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver":