Obama announces support for net neutrality
President Barack Obama has made his strongest declaration yet in favor of net neutrality, which would ensure that telecommunications companies cannot charge websites or individuals for a guarantee their content would be delivered to consumers at a reasonable speed.
The New York Times reports that Obama made the announcement in simultaneously released written and video messages. In the statements, Obama called for the Federal Communications Commission to label the Internet as a public utility, which would subject it to the same types of government regulation that define things like water and electricity.
The Times points out that the F.C.C. is not under the control of the president, but with the statements, Obama has added his voice to chorus of 3.7 million people who have submitted comments to the F.C.C. urging them to respect net neutrality.
The decision was greeted with support by major Internet organizations like the web browser Firefox and the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
We stand for the open Web & are thrilled to hear @WhiteHouse's plan to protect #NetNeutrality on our 10th anniversary https://t.co/JqyPD1fRBC
— Firefox (@firefox) November 10, 2014
The @WhiteHouse echoed our net neutrality position today, coming out for full Title II. Your move, @FCC: https://t.co/gR9q7E0Dhs — EFF (@EFF) November 10, 2014
Investors in cable companies were less enthusiastic about the news. BuzzFeed reports that the stocks of major cable companies including Time Warner, Comcast, and Cablevision, all recorded losses after news of Obama's support for net neutrality was announced.
The major fear with net neutrality is that only large, established companies with the ability to pay the cable companies for bandwidth would be able to afford access to the Internet.
Without net neutrality, companies could charge for the right to upload content to the Internet and slow down uploads they do not believe are profitable enough.
