Net Neutrality - Still Wondering How It All Works Out

Last month the FCC announced the rules for "enforcing" net neutrality. As broad statements of intent they're fine - but the devil is in the details. The question is "how will these intentions be codified and enforced."

Chapter 5 of the FCC ruling displays both the intent and the problem.

This Commission has a statutory responsibility to preserve and promote advanced communications networks that are accessible to all Americans and that serve national purposes. Fouryears ago, the Commission sought to safeguard and promote the open Internet by announcing four general
Internet policy principles that would guide its interpretation of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act):

· To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice.

· To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.

· To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.

· To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.

The Commission noted that all the principles “are subject to reasonable network management.”

fcc-09-93a1.pdf

So what does "reasonable network management" mean? We know it means that company A's content does not get placed before company B. But does real-time communication get put in front of email? We're still not hearing any details from the media. And what about point one in which "consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice." That's straight forward in one sense but how does this apply to ISPs? The role of an ISP is to transmit data from one computer to another, not to determine whether that data is legal, or copyrighted or anything else along this line.