Washington – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) is expected to approve new rules on "Net Neutrality" in a vote
scheduled for Tuesday, having secured commitments of "yes" votes from
the agency’s three Democratic commissioners. Neither side of the debate is
entirely happy with the proposal submitted recently by FCC chair Julius
Genachowski, with some Democrats and advocates saying the rules are too weak
for broadband providers, while Republicans and other advocates have argued that
less or no new regulations are needed on the Internet.
The rules set to be
approved on Tuesday will require broadband provides to disclose to consumers
details on any network management techniques they use to constrain bandwidth,
and any affect this would have on particular applications, such as
file-sharing.
They would also prohibit broadband providers from blocking the
transmission of any lawful content, services or devices; wireless networks
would only be prohibited from blocking applications that compete with their own
services.
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