The American FCC wants to see whether net neutrality can be reintroduced

The American telecom regulator FCC will look into whether it can reintroduce net neutrality rules. These rules were introduced in 2015, but later abolished. According to the FCC, the corona crisis has shown that broadband internet is ‘essential infrastructure’.

The Federal Communications Commission or FCC take the first steps towards reviving net neutrality. Net neutrality is a concept in which all internet connections are treated equally; For example, providers may not punish heavy services such as streaming services because they cost too much bandwidth or it is not allowed to simply close certain websites.

FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel is now proposing that the FCC “take the first procedural steps to reinstate rules that treat broadband internet as an essential service to American life.” Under the proposal, broadband “would be given the same status as water, electricity and telephone services; that means essential’. The FCC wants to regulate this for both fixed and mobile connections. According to Rosenworcel, the pandemic showed that the internet deserves that status. “With work, healthcare, education, the economy and much more moving online, no American household or business should have to have an unreliable internet connection,” Rosenworcel said in a statement.

Rosenworcel proposes reversing old policies. This concerns the rules that were introduced by the FCC in 2015. Under those rules, providers were not allowed to hinder content or offer ‘highways’. These would be packages where consumers could get faster connections for higher payments or to get priority for services from the provider itself. In 2017, under President Trump, a new FCC chairman took office and many net neutrality rules were rolled back. There was a lot of criticism and protests from companies. At the time, those internet companies organized a protest day, the Battle for the Net. This yielded little, although the eventual doomsday scenarios with separate internet packages or curtailed services turned out not to be so bad.