http://time.com/101418/fcc-fast-lane-net-neutrality/The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to move forward on proposed changes that could allow Internet Service Providers to give faster service to companies willing and able to pay for the privilege. It was a sharply partisan vote, with the three Democratic commissioners voting in favor and the two Republican appointees dissenting.
The proposed rules, which will remain preliminary throughout a public comment period ending July 15, leave open the possibility that Internet service providers like Comcast or Verizon could provide “prioritized service” to platforms like Netflix or YouTube. Advocates of the open Internet, however, say such prioritized service — also called a “fast lane” — is antithetical to net neutrality, or the idea that Internet providers should treat all content as equal in terms of speed. While FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said the proposal wouldn’t allow for a fast lane and a slow lane on the Internet, net neutrality advocates say that’s an illogical loophole in net neutrality — if there’s a fast lane, then it holds there must be a “slow lane” as well, they argue.
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The two Republican commissioners who voted against the proposed rules, meanwhile, characterized them as an “absurd” overreach. Net neutrality is “too important” for “us five unelected individuals to decide,” said commissioner Ajit Pai, who opposed the rule. He called for Congress to clarify and guide what the commission should do, and for a series of peer-reviewed studies by economists, engineers, computer scientists and technologists “before the commission acts.”
I've never been a fan of one party acting in lockstep to stonewall any idea by another party, but this one time, I'm actually hoping the Republicans find a way to shut this idea down.