WNA

Under new FCC rules proposed by Chairman Wheeler, internet-service providers will be able to negotiate agreements with companies like Netflix and Amazon for priority Web service.

Wheeler said in a blog post today at the FCC, that his proposal will bar Internet-service providers from blocking legal content and requires the companies to disclose their policies to subscribers and users and prevents them from acting “in a commercially unreasonable manner to harm the Internet, including favoring the traffic from an affiliated entity.”

Google, Amazon and Netflix, part of the Internet Association, told the FCC the agency should adopt enforceable rules so their services won’t be unfairly blocked, “explicitly or implicitly.”

Michael Weinberg, VP of Public Knowledge, said Wheeler’s proposal “is not net neutrality.” The FCC is inviting service providers “to pick winners and losers.” Free Press.net said the FCC “is proposing rules that would kill — rather than protect — Net Neutrality”.

Policy groups that have supported rules to prevent Internet-service providers from unfairly blocking or slowing Web traffic began voicing objections to the Wheeler’s plan as elements of it became public yesterday.

Washington, DC, has long had a revolving door through which government officials exit to become lobbyists, and lobbyists enter to become government officials, notes ArsTechnica.