On May 7th, 2014, a coalition of more than 100 technology companies has written to the U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC), opposing potential changes to net neutrality rules. Net neutrality - the premise that all internet traffic should be treated equally - has been a foundation of the web for many years.
Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers (ISPs) and governments should treat all data on the internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication.
Net neutrality has been a debate for quite some time. The FCC is considering allowing internet service providers (ISPs) to charge content providers to prioritize their traffic. Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon warn that such a move represents a "grave threat to the internet".
But with the growth of bandwidth-hungry services on the internet, ISPs have increasingly asked for the right to charge a fee for carrying such data at high speed on their networks. However, by creating 'fast lanes' for the internet, ISPs can deliver different content for different users, potentially shutting out poorer newcomers.
With more and more companies have come to support net neutrality, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal to allow paid internet 'fast lanes' is quickly losing support
"The cracks are beginning to show in Chairman Wheeler's plan that would undermine net neutrality," said President of Public Policy Group, Free Press, Craig Aaron, in a statement.
Tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook, eBay, Netflix, Twitter, Reddit, and many startups, have all signed on to a letter [PDF] urging the commission to reject the proposed changes.
The letter, which was signed by many of the largest internet firms in Silicon Valley, was delivered as two FCC commissioners expressed doubts about the direction laid out by Tom Wheeler, the former top cable and wireless industry lobbyist who is spearheading the new rules.
A landmark court case in February 2014, in which Verizon successfully challenged the FCC's right to stop it charging such fees, pushed the regulator into a major rethink of its rules.
Wheeler contends that the critics have misunderstood his proposal and that he won't hesitate to act should telecommunications firms exploit new rules with anti-competitive practices. Wheeler has been under fire for proposing new so-called "open internet" or "net neutrality" rules that would allow content companies to pay broadband providers for faster internet speeds delivering their traffic as long as the deals are deemed "commercially reasonable."
But tech companies worry that any prioritization schemes threaten to unravel the meritocratic web. The internet belongs to no one and used by everyone. The Open Internet is the reason why the internet has become an engine of entrepreneurship and economic growth, and the new rule can prevent engineers, inventors, innovators and many other contributors to give enhancements on the web.
"Instead of permitting individualized bargaining and discrimination, the Commission's rules should protect users and internet companies on both fixed and mobile platforms against blocking, discrimination, and paid prioritization and should make the market for internet services more transparent," argued the letter.
The FCC’s internet governance policies have been in limbo since a federal court struck down most of the agency's 2010 Open Internet order in January 2014. That order prohibited broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon from blocking traffic like Skype or Netflix on wired networks or putting them into an internet 'slow lane.'
Wheeler's new proposal would allow ISPs to strike special deals with internet companies for preferential treatment (paid prioritization) for their consumers. Open Internet advocates have long considered such Internet 'fast lanes' to be anathema to net neutrality principles because they would give big companies an advantage over startups.
Tim Berners-Lee, the Inventor of the World Wide Web and the Director of W3C said that the internet was meant to be open and neutral in the first place. And for that. he has called for the creation of a global online "Magna Carta" to protect the rights of internet users around the world.