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Alex Noudelman – Obama’s Proposal for Net Neutrality Riles Cable Companies
By Alex Noudelman
Alex Noudelman is a digital marketing expert as well as educator with 6 years of marketing and teaching experience..
Yesterday, President Obama called for new legislation that would protect “net neutrality”, the belief that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. The move came as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made its decision on a new set of proposals for regulations after the old rules were overturned by court defeats at the hands of cable companies.
“We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House. “I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online.” (source: USAToday.com)
Critics, such as Republican Senator Ted Cruz, were quick to voice their concerns, calling Obama’s proposal an “Obamacare for the internet”. According to Cruz, “the internet should not operate at the speed of the government”. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) was equally as stunned.
Michael Powell, President of NCTA, argued that the cable industry is a strong supporter of an open internet and strongly believes that over-regulating this growing industry will not advance the cause of internet freedom.
