FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler speaking to the cable industry in April 2014.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler repeatedly said today that his network neutrality proposal doesnt authorize Internet fast lanes.

This proposal does not provide or mandate paid prioritization, he said to reporters after the FCCs vote. There is nothing in this proposal that authorizes a fast lane. We ask questions but dont jump to conclusions.

Chairman: "There is one Internet: Not a fast internet. Not a slow Internet."

As Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said during today'smeeting, there are no rules at all against Internet service providers blocking traffic or prioritizing some content over others. Thats because a federal appeals court this year overturned the FCCs previous net neutrality order, issued in 2010.

While the FCCs latest proposal doesnt specifically authorize fast lanes, it didnt have to: theyre already legal. ISPs can charge Web services like Netflix (edge providers in regulatory parlance) for a faster path to consumers over the last mile of the network because there arent any enforceable rules against it.

The important thing is that today's proposal apparently doesnt ban fast lanes. The entire text of the FCCs order hasnt been released yet. It may become available today. (UPDATE: Here it is.) But a fact sheet the FCC releasedmakes it pretty obvious that paid prioritization won't be banned.

The fact sheet says the FCC is going to "Enhance the transparency rules to provide increased and specific information aboutbroadband providers practices for edge providers, consumers." This could include disclosing information on network practices, performance characteristics like upload and download speeds, latency and packet loss, and data caps.

But the important thing regarding fast lanes is that the FCC said it has "tentatively" concluded that disclosures to the public should include "congestion that may adversely impact the experience of end users, including atinterconnection points, and information about new practices, like any paidprioritization, to the extent that it is otherwise permitted." (Emphasis ours.)

Despite that admission, Wheeler repeatedlystressed the fact that the order itself doesn't authorize fast lanes without noting that they're already legal.

Read the original here:

The FCC doesnt have to authorize Internet fast lanestheyre already legal