On April 25, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will--for the seventh time in 20 years--address the issue of net neutrality. The lobbying--including a barrage of commercials by the cable association and Chamber of Commerce--has thus far rehashed the same old arguments that an open internet threatens the companies' incentive to invest in broadband networks. At the heart of net neutrality is whether internet service providers (ISPs)--cable companies such as Comcast and Charter and telephone companies such as AT&T and Verizon - should have the responsibilities of a common carrier that for decades have applied to telephone service. Such responsibilities--often described by reference to Tile II of the Communications Act--include behaving in a "just and reasonable" manner, including providing non-discriminatory access to their networks.
Authors
- Acknowledgements and disclosures
- T-Mobile, Charter Communications, and Verizon are general, unrestricted donors to the Brookings Institution. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions posted in this piece are solely those of the author and are not influenced by any donation.
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- United States of America
