How can the FCC preserve an open Internet while gutting Net neutrality?

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler apparently sees no contradiction between permitting pay-for-priority agreements while purportedly defending an open Internet, but the country's venture capitalists -- not to mention more than 100 online companies including Google, Amazon, and Facebook -- beg to differ.

So does one of Chairman Wheeler's own commissioners, who called for a delay of the scheduled May 15 vote. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said she has "real concerns" about Chairman Wheeler's proposal, which "has unleashed a torrent of public response" and needs time for further input. The FCC's expected network neutrality ruling is already scaring venture capital firms away from media-heavy startups. They fear that if the FCC allows Internet service providers (ISPs) to charge extra fees to content providers, it will increase operational costs and make it more difficult for startups to operate on small budgets.

Big Telecommunications has lobbied hard -- and successfully so far -- not to be treated as common carriers. So Mozilla came out with its own version of net neutrality rules that proposes the FCC treat only some portions of broadband networks as common-carrier services. In a blog post, Mozilla Senior Policy Engineer Chris Riley suggests the FCC create separate rules for how ISPs manage traffic for end users and websites and for Web-based service providers, such as Dropbox.

Mozilla's proposal, which Riley says is "grounded in a modern understanding of technology and markets," would keep broadband providers' relationship with customers as lightly regulated as it is today and might be more politically feasible since it doesn't require any changing of the current law and precedents that are out there.