Obama Says he is Unequivocally Committed to 'Net Neutrality'

President Obama said Thursday that he was completely committed to "net neutrality". Obama's comments come in the backdrop of U.S. regulators evaluating new regulations that would govern how Internet service providers manage the transmission of content on their networks.

"Net neutrality" refers to the principle that Internet service providers should treat all the data on the internet equally.  The providers should not obstruct, manipulate or slow data in their networks.  "Net neutrality" thus  enables equal access to all content regardless of source.

"I am unequivocally committed to net neutrality," Obama said to applause from a group of company start-up founders in California. "It's what has unleashed the power of the Internet, and we don't want to lose that or clog up the pipes," he said, reports Reuters.

Obama said that he was opposed to the idea of paid prioritization, which allows some companies to get exclusive access to customers on the web by paying more money.

Under the proposed regulations, Internet service providers will be banned from blocking or slowing user's access to websites. However, it will permit them to charge content companies for quicker and reliable delivery of traffic to its consumers.

 The Federal Communications Commission received 3.7 million comments, after its Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed the Open Internet rules in April. The proposed rules are slammed by consumer advocacy groups who say that it creates fast and slow lanes on the internet, reports Reuters.

If the rules are implemented, Internet Service Providers like Comcast Corporation would be prohibited from blocking user's access to website. On the other hand, content companies such as Netflix Inc can be charged to ensure fast and reliable delivery of their traffic to consumers.

Though Obama has always supported net neutrality, his standpoint was questioned after Wheeler proposed the rules in April.

However, Obama said that the FCC was an independent Agency.

"I can't just call him up and tell him exactly what to do," he said, referring to Wheeler. "But what I've been clear about and what the White House has been clear about is we expect whatever final rules emerge to make sure that we're not creating two or three or four tiers of Internet," he said, reports The Wall Street Journal.