FCC to begin crafting 'net neutrality' rules

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By Joelle Tessler ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators took an important step Thursday toward prohibiting broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against certain kinds of Internet traffic.

Despite the concerns of the agency's two Republicans and prominent telecommunications companies, the Federal Communications Commission voted to begin writing so-called "network neutrality" regulations. Proponents say the rules would prevent phone and cable companies from abusing their control over the market for broadband access.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the rules are needed to ensure that broadband subscribers can access all legal Web sites and services, including Internet calling applications and video sites that compete with the broadband companies' core businesses.

"Internet users should always have the final say about their online service, whether it's the software, applications or services they choose, or the networks and hardware they use to the connect to the Internet," Genachowski said.

The FCC's two other Democrats voted to support his plan. The agency's two Republican commissioners voted merely to start the formal rule-making process, and said they remain opposed to the substance of Genachowski's proposal.

Next up for the FCC is to actually craft the rules, with a vote on them expected to come by next summer.

That would culminate a five-year debate in Washington that has pitted Internet companies such as Google Inc. against some of the nation's biggest phone and cable companies -- which say the government should not tell them how to manage their networks.