What does Title II do? And why do we need it?
It's a statute that requires any telecommunications companies under the FCC's authority to behave as common carriers.
This concept is nothing new. If you've ever been in a hotel, a taxi, or a hospital, then you've benefitted from common carriage. If you've ever received a package, placed a telephone call, or drank water from a faucet, you've benefitted from common carriage. (You have definitely, definitely drank water from a faucet.)
To sum it up in a sentence, common carriage ensures that those who provide a service to the general public cannot discriminate against any member of that general public (that means you!). Its provisions can apply to both public utilities and private enterprises.
For ISPs, being a common carrier means that they have to deliver data from source to destination without any differential treatment, and without discrimination.
This is how the internet has worked since its beginning. Declaring broadband a Title II service just ensures that it will continue to work this way in the future.
Unfortunately, and for pretty convoluted reasons, the FCC decided back in 2002 that ISPs could be treated like content providers—the same category TV networks fall into. That means that ISPs can choose which content they want to distribute and which content they want to ignore. For years the FCC attempted to address the problem through some clumsy half-measures that federal courts couldn't abide by. Now, the FCC is trying again, and it's up to us to make sure they get it right.
Only you have the right to decide what your internet is for. But we need the FCC to enact new rules, using Title II, that make this right official.
