Internet groups in tricky position over US net neutrality
Richard Waters in San Francisco
Be careful what you wish for. That is the message for companies such as Google and Facebook as US regulators move ahead with a plan to enshrine the idea of an open internet in regulation.
On the face of it, the big internet companies will have scored a significant victory if the Federal Communication Commission votes, as expected, for its new “net neutrality” rules this month. The regime is intended to make sure broadband and other network providers cannot block or otherwise hold internet services to ransom.
Who could take issue with such a noble purpose? Telecoms regulation is not usually the kind of thing to excite much public interest, but this is a cause that has reverberated widely. Populist campaigns like the one waged over net neutrality, however, do not allow for much in the way of nuance.
The problem comes with the form the rules will take. With heavy nudging from the White House, the FCC has opted to re purpose an authority it was given under an old telecoms law, known as Title II, to make it apply to the internet era.
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