Starting next month the United States’ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will begin codifying how it will enforce the principles of “Net Neutrality.” The objective is to create a non-discriminatory way for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide connectivity between and among people and the services that they use over the Internet. As the the Wall Street Journal‘s Fawn Johnson and Amy Schatz put it in this article, the primary objective is “to avoid restricting or delaying access to legal Internet sites and services.”

Regulating the wireless Internet presents some very visible (and audible) problems. As iPhone users in the the San Francisco Bay and other metropolitan areas have come to know, there are peak times when, in spite of the carrier’s efforts to deliver services, there is non-discriminate rationing of Internet services that result from network congestion. That’s why, in addition to four fundamental principles that the FCC spelled out in 2005, Chairman Genachowski is adding a fifth: a definition of “reasonable” network management.

Broadband ISPs, like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast, will continue to fight against the FCC’s efforts. The WSJournal article makes it clear that wireless carriers will join them. As for providers of content and application that benefit from unfettered delivery of high-speed connections, the fact that the FCC is moving the cause of Net Neutrality forward is cause for celebration. The Chairman’s statement and his proposals are available from the FCC Web site.

Update: Everyone interested in FCC efforts to build an “open Internet” should visit this new Web site!

Categories: Articles

Tags: Recombinant Telephony, net neutrality, mobile applications