The Federal Communications Commission – the influential US telecoms regulator – has insisted on net neutrality. This means that Internet traffic must be treated in the same way by Internet service providers. Ideas had been floated by ISPs that they would need to prioritise or restrict certain types of Internet traffic because the Internet was getting too congested and their costs were rising to deal with online video. The FCC also discussed charging certain content providers – in addition to its business model of charging subscribers - for allowing their material to be accessed. The FCC said: 'It is vital that we safeguard the free and open internet.' It has insisted in its rules that ISPs do not discriminate against particular Internet content or applications, and that they are also transparent as to their network management practices.
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