PRESIDENT OBAMA SUPPORTS REGULATION TO AVOID TWO-SPEED SYSTEM BY INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS!

President Barack Obama—-

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama voiced support Monday for a new regulatory system for Internet providers aimed at avoiding a two-speed system leaving some services in an online “slow lane.”

Obama endorsed an effort to reclassify the Internet as a public utility to give regulators authority to enforce “net neutrality,” the principle barring Internet service firms from playing favourites or opening up “fast lanes” for those who pay more.

In a statement, Obama said he wants the independent Federal Communications Commission to “implement the strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality.”

Obama’s comment comes as the FCC seeks to draft new rules to replace those struck down this year by a US appeals court, which said the agency lacked authority to regulate Internet service firms as it does telephone carriers.

“‘Net neutrality’ has been built into the fabric of the Internet since its creation — but it is also a principle that we cannot take for granted,” Obama said in a statement.

“We cannot allow Internet service providers to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas.”

Obama said that while the FCC is an independent agency, he wants the regulatory body to maintain key principles of net neutrality.

He said the rules should ensure no blocking of any legal content, to ensure that an Internet provider does not shut out a service such as Netflix to promote a rival one.

Obama seeks to ban “paid prioritization” that would allow one service to get into a faster lane by paying extra, or the flip side of that, which would be “throttling” or slowing a service which does not pay.