The deadline for net neutrality has been extended due to the amount of comments left on the Federal Communications Commission's website. The deadline is now set for July 18, and what an interesting day it is going to be.
The first round of comments should have ended on Tuesday, July 15. However, folks who are still interested in leaving their thoughts about the net neutrality issue will have until Friday midnight to do so.
"We have seen an overwhelming surge in traffic on our website that is making it difficult for many people to file comments through our Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS)," the FCC said today. "Please be assured that the Commission is aware of these issues and is committed to making sure that everyone trying to submit comments will have their views entered into the record."
The FCC's website isn't the only place the commission is accepting comments. For those who might not want the whole world to view what they have to say, the option is there to send in comments through email at openinternet@fcc.gov.
Once the initial round of comments is over and done with, the second round will commence. The next round will allow people to respond to comments from the first round, and this will run until Sept. 10. After all that is done, the commission will then take into consideration opinions from all directions before fashioning the final rules.
Sen. Al Franken and 12 other legislators, are encouraging the FCC to reclassify broadband as a telecommunication service, rather than an information service. Such a move would give the FCC direct control over broadband providers.
Several companies view this as a controversial issue, so it would be difficult for the FCC to go down this route right now, even if it wants to.
One group that stands to lose a lot if net neutrality rules are not set in its favor is the Internet Association that consists of Google, Twitter, Amazon and more. This group is calling for open internet, one that doesn't involve fast-lanes.
It is going to take a long time before we see any change in the net neutrality rules. Whenever it happens; however, big changes are bound to happen.
