Anders Bylund of Motley Fool says you can read the 400 pages it took for the FCC to divulge, justify, explain and opine on the recent net neutrality ruling, or you can read his 30-plus words that cover the important part.
Bylund says that it all boils down to three points.
He says the report consists of “Eight pages of actual rules are joined by 312 pages of clarifications and background, plus another 87 pages of statements from the five FCC commissioners involved in this 3-2 vote.” And 80 pages of the comments are courtesy of dissenters Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly.
Here’s the boil-down: He wrote, “When these rules take effect, broadband service providers will not be allowed to:
* “Block lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices,”
* “impair or degrade lawful Internet traffic on the basis of Internet content, application, or service, or use of a non-harmful device,” or
* “engage in paid prioritization.”
“That’s it. I’m not kidding.”
Bylund noted that when ISPs bottlenecked Netflix content until it agreed to pay higher fees, it was an example of what net neutrality supporter wish to prevent.
While the rules may limit the potential profit margins of the ISPs, they should provide lower costs for most other companies using the internet.
Bylund agreed with the point that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has been making to Congress this week: The use of Title II was necessary to establish the FCC’s authority in this area.
He noted that back in 2002, Verizon actually sought Title II regulation when it was seeking to build out fiber optic networks because at that time it provided certain advantages for the company. It is only now that it is against it.
The analyst sees the FCC ruling as a compromise that might actually be the best solution to the problem.
He noted that there is a benefit for consumers in the new body of regulation: ISPs will need to clearly present on a consumer’s bill what is being delivered and how much it costs. This includes, “Full monthly service charges, including the terms of promotional rates; all additional fees and surcharges, including modem rental, early termination fees, and taxes; data caps with trigger conditions and additional fee structures; and performance characteristics of the network service, including speed, latency, and packet loss statistics.”
