Tech firms have united to oppose the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plan to charge them extra for faster Internet. Over 100 other Silicon Valley companies signed a letter to the FCC this week.
The letter included signatures from Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Microsoft, eBay, Yahoo, and Twitter. It stated that the plan was a "grave threat to the Internet" and declared that it may let telephone-service and cable providers discriminate technically and financially.
This comes after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler asked the commission to vote on rules concerning deals between broadband providers and content makers. With the proposed plan, Internet providers such as AT&T and Comcast can bargain with each other for faster services. In January, a court rejected the commission’s rules for fair Web traffic, and it is now looking for another way to address the issue.
Though Wheeler specified that the concept does not interfere with net neutrality (formally known as the FCC Internet fairness policy), the tech companies are speaking out against it. The letter is asking the FCC to protect both users and content creators from service providers who can charge extra or block traffic.
"Instead of permitting individualized bargaining and discrimination, the Commission's rules should protect users and Internet companies on both fixed and mobile platforms against blocking, discrimination, and paid prioritization, and should make the market for Internet services more transparent," wrote the letter, as published by TIME.
FCC spokesman Neil Grace told SFGate in an email that the agency has no immediate comment on the letter. Spokeswoman Shannon Gilson also sent the same publication an email, saying that Wheeler will push through with a vote next week, "to bring us one step closer to putting rules on the books."
