Obama to Veto Anti-Net Neutrality Bill

The White House is saying President Obama plans to veto anti-net neutrality legislation, according to a report from Wired. Net neutrality rules will not permit broadband providers including Time Warner and Comcast to, as Wired puts it, “playing favorites with internet traffic, while a lighter set of rules applies to mobile broadband providers like Verizon.” The White House says the legislation “would undermine a fundamental part of the nation’s open internet and innovation strategy — an enforceable, effective but flexible policy for keeping the internet free and open.” The measure threatens “the very foundations of innovation in the internet economy and the democratic spirit that has made the Internet a force for social progress around the world,” the White House added. Since 2005, the FCC tried to adopt fairness rules but have been consistently challenged by Comcast through multiple lawsuits. The rules are in place to stop companies from unfairly blocking services and require them to be transparent about how they manage their networks during times of congestion.