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What happens on net neutrality? Let's look at the FTC's

March 30, 2017 by Elizabeth Duran

What happens on net neutrality? Let's look at the FTC's comments.

ISPs claim that their net neutrality proposals won't hurt consumers because they'll simply give ISPs more options. They have a very different argument.

"The fact is that consumers will be able to choose whether they want to pay for and access broadband services or not," said NCTA attorney Scott J. Fuchs in a letter to the FTC dated March 23. The FTC says the commission has set "a minimum cost basis of 10 Mbps and other providers will provide a minimum cost of 50 Mbps for the first 2 months or 60 Mbps for the next 1 year."

Fuchs is referring to a recent FTC action , where the FTC sought to protect net neutrality by mandating ISPs to provide "reasonable and robust privacy and security" for their customers. Under the FTC's actions, ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and Charter have voluntarily agreed to provide that protection and other services to consumers. In its decision on March 23, the FTC found that the FTC's actions "may not amount to a meaningful net neutrality policy."

Internet service providers have long claimed that the FTC doesn't have the power to enforce net neutrality. AT&T and Verizon are both trying to put up barriers by asking consumers to pay for and access broadband services. Verizon is asking for customers to pay more for the service, but also to pay for other services, including other service providers' broadband service. In a March 13 announcement to consumers, Verizon cited its new privacy rules that prohibit "non-trivial discrimination by ISPs on the basis of location, phone number, and personal information" as grounds for not prohibiting broadband providers from offering similar services.

Fuchs also cited that the FTC "has no authority to enforce its own rules for Internet service providers on the basis of location and phone number."

The FCC is asking ISPs to comply with the FTC's "reasonable and robust privacy and security" rules by offering them a $500 fine for violating those conditions.

On March 21, the FTC announced that it had found a number of ISPs "unlawfully blocking or blocking and/or blocking" the right to stream and view broadband content to "all users without a warrant given" under the Fair Usage Doctrine. The FTC claims that the rules did not give ISPs the power to block or block "federal internet content" like YouTube or Netflix.

There are currently more than 3.5 million Internet users nationwide who have broadband access, according to the FCC. The FCC says that the rules