FCC Restores Obama-Era ‘Net Neutrality,’ Making Internet Service a Public Utility No Different Than Water or Electricity

The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to classify internet service as a public utility.

The move will apply utility-like regulations to the country’s Internet service providers, and is a major shift in policy. It will affect telecom giants including Verizon, Comcast, Charter, and AT&T, among others,

As Internet service becomes increasingly essential to our daily lives, the policy change will allow the FCC to regulate these companies similar to the manner in which water, electricity, and local telephone service is managed.

This isn’t the first time the FCC has classified Internet service in this manner. During the Obama administration, the agency did just that and imposed so-called net-neutrality rules on Internet providers that barred them from favoring some Internet content providers over others.

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers must treat all Internet communications and traffic equally and offering users and online content providers consistent rates of speed regardless of content, website, provider, platforms, application, source addresses, destination address and without price discrimination.

The move is not without controversy and some Internet providers are expected to challenge it in court. However, FCC chairman Jessica Rosenworcel is steadfast in her belief in net neutrality as the best framework for the country’s Information Superhighway.

“Today, there is no expert agency ensuring that the internet is fast, open and fair,” she said. “Even as we recognized that our lives were being transformed and we were doing anything and everything online, our institutions failed to keep pace.”

(Photo: Accura Media Group)