President Obama has brought the Internet into the spotlight, urging the FCC to reclassify it as public utility. The Republicans disagree and they wish to prevent the respective legislation from being accepted and put into effect. Both parties concern as to the impact of Internet usage and the interests related to it, with the vote having been scheduled for the end of February.

US President Obama is about to bring new regulations to net-neutrality, dealing with the Internet like a public utility. With the aid of FCC, the independent agency within the US Government of the Federal Communication Commission, the new regulations will be put to a Vote in February.

Nevertheless, the Republicans oppose to these regulations and do their best to fight them off and prevent them from being put into effect. Back in November, the Republicans have sent out a letter and expressed their concerns. There, they had claimed that the plan of Obama was more than likely illegal and demanded action against it.

One of the most eloquent expressions of dislike as to the President’s attempts to pass on the new legislation was the tweet of Senator Ted Cruz earlier in 2014, when he stated: “Net neutrality is Obamacare for the Internet; the internet should not operate at the speed of the government.”

It is worth mentioning that the industry of broadband backs the claims of the conservatives, as they highlight the danger lying beneath dealing with the Internet as utility. In specific, they argue that this will definitely cut back innovation in the field and eventually be damaging to the public.

Another issue to be resolved is the spectrum used by carriers and freed for the public to use without restrictions. There is disagreement between the Democrats and the Republicans as to how much of the band spectrum would be sold to carriers for exclusivity and how much would be available at no cost to the mobile users in the US. The Democrats choose sharing, while the Republicans favor the decision to sell the spectrum to wireless carriers.

Since the Republicans see the tools used by the FCC to be outdated, they wish to maintain the neutrality of the Internet without handing over additional power to the FCC. Broadband Internet, according to Senator John Thune, should not be reclassified as utility – this could emerge various problems along the way. Thune was firm in commenting: “The regulatory tools at the FCC’s disposal are outdated and its previous efforts to create rules to regulate the Internet were struck down by the courts”.

The end of February is closing in and so is the upcoming vote; so, we will have to see what the FCC has got to say on this really hot potato…

Top/Featured Image: By Ppenmedia via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/openmedia/3748421097/)