Summary: Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other tech powerhouses are fighting for net neutrality with the federal regulator, and Mozilla has a concrete plan on how to make it happen.
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols[1] for Networking[2] | May 8, 2014
The battle lines are being drawn for the future of the Internet.
On one side, you have major last mile Internet providers (ISPs), such as Comcast and Verizon, demanding fees[3] from popular Internet services such as Netflix[4] for a fast lane on the Internet. On the other side, more than a hundred technology companies, including giants like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, recently wrote to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking for its support[5] for a “free and open Internet.”
It’s not just the technology powerhouses that want net neutrality. The Ammori Group, a Washington DC-based public policy law-firm, which organized this lobbying effort, said the letter was “entirely driven by the small companies and the mid-sized companies.”
It added that over 100 small companies signed letter before it included a single Silicon Valley technology titan.
“This letter reflects the beliefs of a wide range of companies, from the smallest, least resourced companies to the largest companies, that an unequal Web would stifle innovation, entrepreneurship and free expression,” the group added.