If the Federal Communications Commission puts any teeth into net neutrality rules, look for the issue to land on the front doorsteps of the United States Supreme Court.
The FCC, with three new members and a Democratic bent, is proposing to add two new regulations to its net neutrality rules. Simply, they are that carriers cannot discriminate, favoring some applications over others, and that carriers have to let their customers, and the rest of the ecosystem know what they’re doing, i.e., the transparency provision.
Ever since AT&T Mobility scored an exclusive deal to sell the beloved Apple iPhone, there has been increasing criticism that a) the iPhone was sold locked with AT&T service, and b) some applications have been denied either by AT&T or Apple. I guess we’re going to find out if five people watching TV via Sling Media’s Slingbox app can actually take down a cell site, as some in the industry have claimed.
The commission’s goals are noble: “The Internet must continue to allow users to decide what content and applications succeed.”And as far as that is concerned, I agree. But once you get beyond the lofty, high-level goals, the rulemaking could get murky. Because at its heart, the real question is at what point does your mobile Internet experience interfere with my mobile Internet experience. Yes, you should be allowed to run whatever app you want on whatever device you choose. Will wireless carriers be forced to decide who the more important customer is?
AT&T Mobility is already being criticized for not being able to manage its network well because so many of its customers are actually using wireless applications on their iPhones. I love Sling Media’s Slingbox, but I can understand why AT&T doesn’t want the app running on its 3G network. It makes much more sense to offload the service to a Wi-Fi network. And as far as Google Voice and other applications that would enable AT&T customers to buy smaller voice plans, is it reasonable for a carrier to protect itself from what it considers competition?
But I think the most fascinating clash that may occur is the one not yet commercially available. Time Warner Cable Co. wants its subscribers to be able to watch their TV anywhere they want on multiple devices without paying any more for the service. How will the FCC want carriers to manage that application? In our Reality Check feature today, Openwave’s John Giere suggests tiered pricing for different speeds. Would the FCC consider that a simple solution?
The notice of proposed rulemaking has some provisions, i.e., that the application must not harm the network, and that carriers must be allowed to manage their networks. It’s likely a matter of degrees – just how open does the FCC want the wireless Internet to be? But if carriers feel they are threatened because they are not allowed to manage their networks, you can expect them to take it to court.
