FCC approves net neutrality, defends free speech

By: Roger Hoke – News Editor

The amount of control the American public holds over its online free speech was protected at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) meeting in a 3-2 vote for net neutrality Thursday, according to NPR.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the FCC will still protect the Internet and its users; it just cannot interfere with web surfers’ access to legal content.

Net neutrality, as explained by USA Today, ensures Internet service providers [ISPs] allow all consumers, including UD students, to access all legal content at the same speed.

This does not mean customers who pay for slower Internet access will have the same speed of Internet as those who pay for faster service, USA Today reported. Rather, it means no one will be blocked from streaming videos because a competitor of the ISP is providing that service.

“No one – whether government or corporate – should control free open access to the Internet,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said to press after the decision.