What Obama's net neutrality plan means for the Internet's future

Net neutrality protesters outside the FCC in May
Activists protest outside Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the commission meets to receive public comment on proposed open Internet notice of proposed rulemaking and spectrum auctions May 15, 2014 at the FCC headquarters in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama asked the FCC to implement the "strongest rules possible to protect net neutrality."

From The New York Times:

"For almost a century, our law has recognized that companies who connect you to the world have special obligations not to exploit the monopoly they enjoy over access into and out of your home or business," Mr. Obama, who is traveling in Asia, said in a statement and a video on the White House website. "It is common sense that the same philosophy should guide any service that is based on the transmission of information -- whether a phone call or a packet of data."

The president's move was widely interpreted as giving political support to Tom Wheeler, the F.C.C. chairman. Mr. Wheeler is close to settling on a plan to protect an open Internet, often known as net neutrality, and Mr. Obama's statement could push him to adopt a more aggressive approach. Any set of rules needs three votes from the five-member commission, which now has three Democrats and two Republicans.

Chris Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisor at Sophos Inc. join The Daily Circuit to talk about what this means for the future of the web.

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