NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The debate over net neutrality has reached a crescendo as the Federal Communications Commission is set to vote Thursday on a proposal by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, which could prevent cable companies and Internet providers from collecting fees in exchange for offering some outfits faster Internet access than others.
Read: New net neutrality rules still leave some questions unanswered.
The vote comes as President Barack Obama, last year, called for stricter rules to protect net neutrality, rising the ire of heavyweights in the industry like Google Inc. GOOG, +1.72% Chairman Eric Schmidt, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But the debate over unbridled access to the web isn't limited to the U.S. Here's a look at how other countries have approached the debate:
Chile was the first country in the global community to chisel net neutrality into law in 2010. Chile's House of Representatives introduced new provisions (link is in Spanish) to the previous Telecommunications Law. According to the new provisions, Internet service providers "can not arbitrarily block, interfere with, discriminate, hinder or restrict the right of any Internet user to use, send, receive or offer any content, application or legal service through the Internet…"
The law also prohibits ISPs from arbitrarily distinguishing content, applications or services based on the source or ownership. In Chile, like in other emerging markets, companies such as Wikipedia, Facebook and Twitter make deals with mobile operators to offer a free, stripped-down version to consumers.
Consumers who use these zero-rated services are able to browse mobile versions of the sites without racking up data charges.
Josh Levy, advocacy director at Access Now, said this practice is bad for Internet users and the open Internet in general. And Chile's Subsecretary of Telecommunications demanded mobile operators stop offering the free versions of these sites in June, saying the promotions blocked users access to corners of the Internet with the exception of the zero-rated site they were using.
"That's plain discrimination," Levy said, "and net neutrality is about not discriminating."
The Netherlands became the second country, and first in Europe, to hop on the net neutrality train, in 2011 when it banned telephone operators like Royal KPN N.V. KPN, +0.69% , a Dutch telecommunications leader, as well as Vodafone VOD, -0.07% and Deutsche Telekom AG's DTEGY, -1.04% T-Mobile from charging extra, or subsequently blocking consumers for using Internet-based communications.
The issue was that operators wanted to charge consumers extra for using certain third-party apps So now all access to the Internet must be treated the same no matter the device or the content.
As a result, however, mobile operators in the Netherlands decided to raise prices across the board.
South Korea has also been discussing standards for net neutrality. In 2011, the Korea Communications Committee, which regulates the country's telecommunications, organized a net neutrality forum consisting of government, ISPs, civil activists and academia. And in 2012, they set up rules that prevent a telecom operator, like Korea's KT Corporation, from providing service "without justifiable grounds," such as ensuring network security and stability.
Citizen groups and open Internet activists in South Korea have opposed unilateral enactment (link is in Korean) of the KCC standards because they say the standards go against what presidential candidates at the time wanted and that there was a lack of social consensus on the standards.
Levy noted that the U.S. doesn't treat ISPs as common carriers, unlike a lot of countries debating net neutrality. If ISPs in the U.S. were treated as common carriers, like telecom operators, they would be subject to Federal Communications Commission regulations, and thus possible net neutrality rules. This treatment is essentially what the president proposed the FCC do, on Monday.
Also see: Cable stocks fall as Obama calls on FCC to protect net neutrality
Levy also said not treating ISPs as common carriers is one of the reasons, "the U.S. is a step behind in a lot of ways," with regard to net neutrality.
No comments:
Post a Comment