Apple finally decided to include itself in the ongoing discussion about American net neutrality.

Late to the party

Where almost all large companies voiced their opinion soon after the FCC announced plans to alter the laws regarding net neutrality, Apple decided to wait for the opportune moment to react. The FCC has been planning to drastically change its laws since last May. According to the current laws internet providers are not allowed to block access to legal content, apps and services. Also no content, apps or services can receive any special treatment as a result of payments to the providers. Lastly, no changes can be made in the quality of the internet offered by the providers.

Exact opposite

The set of new rules the FCC wants to implement would change basically everything previously mentioned to the exact opposite of its current position. Internet providers would receive the rights to block legal content, apps or services and would be allowed to provide special treatment to websites who pay the providers extra money. This makes the companies’s united stand against the FCC very understandable from a business point of view.

To try and give its opinions extra weight, Apple has explained that the new set of rules proposed by the FCC would have dire consequences for consumers, competitors and innovation on the internet. Apple considers the proposed changes as a direct violation of the services that should be present in a provider-consumer relationship.

Fierce resistance

Luckily, the plans of the FCC are not yet set in stone. So far the public has also had the chance to make their voice heard. About 1.5 million unique reactions were received in total and of those reactions a whopping 98.5 percent wholeheartedly disagrees with the FCC plans. All these people can do is wait for the adjusted proposal from the FCC to be published, which will include the public reaction of both businesses and civilians. After that a final deciding vote will take place.