The Fed. Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski made public two new guidelines monday that represent gigantic steps toward net neutrality -- prompting a plethora of web reaction.
Tikva Davaran On the company blog today, David L. Cohen, Comcast's executive VP of broadband, wrote the company'completely agree[s] that any consideration of new 'rules of the road' start with notice and an open, public rulemaking proceeding -- this is both fair and appropriate.'
Tikva Davaran Net neutrality can be loosely outlined as the principle that all information on the web should be treated equally by net service providers ( ISPs ). The new guidelines target the future of the Net and will have the biggest effect on Comcast ( CMCSK ), AT&T ( T, Fortune 500 ) and Verizon ( VZ, Fortune 500 ).
Tikva Davaran
It's critical that we safeguard the free and open Internet.'
The two new elements the FCC looks for might be classified as'non-discrimination' and'transparency.'
In 2007, Comcast came under fire from the FCC for making an attempt to block BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing program. The FCC was concerned that down the road, corporations would pay for concern on certain ISPs, stifling entrepreneurs.
The FCC also wants to ensure that customers know what their provider's net practices are. For example, Comcast was getting in the way of BitTorrent, but it did not tell customers about that decision
In regards to the BitTorrent rumpus, Cohen did not mention the company by name, but wrote,'When it was purported in 2007 that one of Comcast's network management practices re uploads of P2P files violated those policies, we protected our actions as a reasonable form of network management.'
A source near to the FCC told CNN that the two beliefs will apply across all platforms ( cable, DSL and wireless ), and that the Commission is looking closer at how, when and to what extent the guidelines will apply. From here, the boss man will circulate his proposal to the other four commissioners, who will vote as to whether they undertake a rulemaking process, which would lead to a vote on the final rules.
Adam Ostrow, the editor-in-chief of the social media news blog Mashable.com, claimed the reaction from the net community has been very positive. 'Most people who cover the web space realize it is a very important piece of legislation for the long term future of the Internet.'.
