Call for Network Neutrality Rules

The Federal Communications Commission should include Network Neutrality rules in a national broadband plan the agency is developing over the next seven months, thousands of US residents have told the FCC. With the public comment period for the FCC's national broadband plan closing Tuesday, comments continued to flow into the agency's Web site, with many people using a form letter from media reform group Free Press to ask the FCC to include Network Neutrality and open access rules in the plan. As of noon Tuesday, more than 9,700 comments had been filed with the FCC on the national broadband plan. "An open and accessible Internet is essential to America's future," says the form letter. "In crafting the national broadband plan, the Federal Communications Commission must protect Internet users from corporate gatekeepers who seek to keep prices high and speeds slow, limit access to content and stifle innovation and market choice. Net Neutrality must be a basic and enforceable rule of the Internet. The plan must also ensure that every American -- regardless of race, income or location -- can connect to broadband at prices everyone can afford."