It seems that President Obama has a new proposal. The most powerful man in the United States claims that reclassifying the Internet as a utility is a good thing. The President also claimed that this will allow better control on neutrality, as it will regulate Internet service providers more strictly.
“The time has come for the FCC to recognize that broadband service is of the same importance and must carry the same obligations as so many of the other vital services do,” the President of the United States claimed in a statement released on Monday morning.
The president’s proposal is not very shocking, as it actually comes to support his previous statements linked to the need for rules to regulate certain claims made by cable and telephone companies when it comes to providing special access to some content providers. Well, Obama seems to believe that an open Internet is actually essential for America and its economy. Naturally, it is important for people’s way of life nowadays.
In his statement Obama claimed that the Federal Communication Commission should create a new set of rules to protect neutrality, preventing at the same time companies to act as gatekeepers. This means that cable or net companies could be prevented from allowing customers to see only what they want online.
Naturally, Internet users and many companies considered the statement made by Obama an important one for Internet freedom, but major corporations were against it. They called Obama’s claims an overreaction and said that it will only be able to create lawsuits and worse quality services. However, despite his support for net neutrality, Obama claimed that the FCC alone can take this decision, saying that they are an independent agency.
Currently, President Barack Obama is in China, for meetings. If the FCC will protect net neutrality, companies will no longer be able to deny the access to a website that contains legal content. Providers will be unable to slow down the speed of some content and speed other up. Well, this surely is a complicated and interesting subject, so it is yet to see what will be decided by the FCC when it comes to net neutrality.