The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to start the controversial process of reclassifying high-speed Internet access to give the agency more authority over service providers to prevent disparate treatment of customers.
The commission voted 3-2 along party lines to put out for public comment a new regulatory framework, dubbed the Third Way, that would make Internet service providers subject to some of the same nondiscrimination rules that apply to telephone companies.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has been a vocal supporter of requiring Internet providers to treat all similar Web traffic equally, an issue known as net neutrality.
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