FCC chairman faces increased animosity over his proposed Net Neutrality rule

Shortly after the Tech Giants such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and nearly a hundred Venture capitalists joined hands to rally against FCC’s new Net Neutrality rule, the campaign has gathered even more pace as hundreds of activists have been seen camping outside of FCC’s Chairman Tom Wheeler’s headquarters, protesting against the implementation of the new rule. The new rule seems to have garnered a debacle among the officials in the FCC itself and the chances for this implementation looks bleak as the FCC meets on Thursday for a final decision.

According to a tip by anonymous FCC official, the proposal itself is seen as a “debacle” inside the office and people are split on decisions. Opponents of Thomas Wheeler have lashed out hard at him claiming that he has sold out to the Telecom lobby and has no clue whatsoever on what he is doing. Popular Resistance, an Occupy Wall-street style group has been seen protesting outside of Wheeler’s office calling for proper internet regulation.

However, as there are two sides to the coin, the supporters of Tom Wheeler went on his defense saying that the new proposal “is adapting existing laws to a modern communications technology and is constrained by a federal appeals court ruling”. They also claim that this new rule will encourage investment in the Internet and contains safeguard against abusive practices.According to Marvin Ammori, a Washington telecom lawyer, this particular rule was exactly what Verizon and other ISPs have been asking since 2006, to delegate lanes to regulate the traffic flow. Having two different Internet lanes would be very deteriorating for the small start-ups and budding companies as they would have to pay extra dosh to get their content to the customers, while the already established firms will be more than happy to pay, in essence curbing the other companies. Experts believe that this would potentially lead to monopoly and pose a real threat to innovations. You can read more about the letter from the top companies to the FCC chairman in this article.

It will all come to this Thursday if the rule will be released by FCC based on the votes or be delayed, since it requires additional two FCC commissioners to support besides him and Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the commissioners, said she wants proposal to be delayed for a month.