On the campaign trail, then candidate Obama campaigned on keeping the Internet free and fair. As President, he’s been quiet on the recent plans laid out by the FCC to allow for paid fast lane access to web services.
In a two minute video uploaded to Youtube this morning, President Obama laid out his plan for what a free Internet should look like. He submitted his proposed plan to the FCC, encouraging them to prevent gatekeepers from arbitrarily degrading services like Netflix, and that rules should be drafted which protect service regardless of how someone connects to the internet. That last point would also mark a large shift in how data access is managed as cell networks operate under different rules than traditional wired networks.
While it’s encouraging to finally see the White House comment publicly on the continuing battles over Net Neutrality, the FCC’s response threw some cold water on those happy feelings.
“As an independent regulatory agency we will incorporate the President’s submission into the record of the Open Internet proceeding,” chairman Wheeler says. “We welcome comment on it and how it proposes to use Title II of the Communications Act.”
Essentially saying that the President’s recommendation would largely end up on the same pile of comments that the public has been submitting.
You can see President Obama’s statement below.