The Federal Communications Commission has drafted new rules on internet traffic that would allow broadband providers to charge companies premium prices for faster service.
There has been a lot of pressure on the FCC to create rules for net neutrality after broadband provider, Comcast began throttling Netflix speeds and demanded the company pay more to boost it.
The new rules have been drafted by chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler and aim to help consumers access whatever content they want at the speed they have paid for.
If passed, the regulations will also allow providers to give preferential treatment to traffic from some content providers as long as there is a special arrangement between the two companies. These “special arrangements” need to be “commercially reasonable” according to the FCC and would be granted on a case by case basis.
In the past, agreements surrounding net neutrality have been met with some conflict as broadband providers have claimed that some companies use more bandwidth than others and companies have protested that they should not be discriminated against based on user popularity.
While the FCC openly announced that their new rules wont please everyone they did state that they believe their regulations have found a balanced middle ground.
Even though the full regulations have not been released as yet, many are concerned that the FCC is permitting “special arrangements” between companies stating that it will inevitably lead to discrimination.
The proposal by the FCC will be voted on and officially decided on May 15.