WASHINGTON (AP) – Internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile would have to act in the “public interest” when providing a mobile connection to your home or phone, under new rules being considered by the Federal Communications Commission.
The rules would put the Internet in the same regulatory camp as the telephone, banning providers from “unjust or unreasonable” business practices.
The FCC vote on the rules scheduled Thursday is considered a victory for consumer advocates and companies like Netflix and Twitter that have long warned that some providers want to create paid “fast lanes” on the Internet, edging out cash-strapped startups and smaller Internet-based businesses.
The broadband industry is expected to sue, arguing that the plan constitutes dangerous overreach. Republicans in Congress said they will try to pass legislation scrapping the rules, although it’s unlikely that such a bill would be signed into law by President Barack Obama.
“One way or another, I am committed to moving a legislative solution, preferably bipartisan, to stop monopoly-era phone regulations that harm Internet consumers and innovation,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said in a statement earlier this week.