Home United States USA — IT FCC Chairman warns Republicans against net neutrality repeal

FCC Chairman warns Republicans against net neutrality repeal

337
0
SHARE

NewsHubFederal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler testifies before a House subcommittee in March 2015 defending his agency’s controversial net neutrality rules.
Don’t mess with net neutrality. That was the message from departing FCC chairman Tom Wheeler Friday in his last speech as head of the agency.
Wheeler warned the incoming Republican administration against a hasty repeal of the controversial open internet rules. He said getting rid of the rules and taking a “hands-off approach” to regulating broadband and wireless networks would be a mistake and a move backward. He added that changing the rules would threaten innovation.
“The open internet is currently the law of the land,” he said. “Tampering with the rules means taking away protections consumers and the online world enjoy today. ”
Net neutrality is the principle that all traffic on the Internet should be treated equally. Whether you’re checking Facebook, posting pictures to Instagram, shopping on Amazon, streaming Netflix movies or watching cat videos on YouTube, all the information traveling across the Internet to you and from you should be treated the same. This means that your Internet service provider — whether that’s a broadband company like Comcast or a wireless carrier like AT&T or Verizon — can’t block or slow down your access to that content.

Continue reading...