Eideard

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will unveil in a speech on Monday new proposals that would force Internet providers to treat the flow of content equally, say sources familiar with the speech.

The concept, referred to as net neutrality, pits open Internet companies like Google against broadband service providers like AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Comcast, which oppose new rules governing network management.

Advocates of net neutrality say Internet service providers must be barred from blocking or slowing traffic based on content.

Providers say the increasing volume of bandwidth-hogging services like video sharing requires active management of their networks and some argue that net neutrality could stifle innovation.

“He is going to announce rulemaking,” said one source familiar with his speech about broadband, to be delivered at the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank. “The commission will have to codify into new regulations the principle of nondiscrimination.”

The most hypocritical aspect of the Telco/Cableco position is their whining over the amount of fibre utilized by consumers, small vendors, independent producers of video content – anyone but the fibre-owners and their backdoor buddies in the MPAA.

Then, the sky’s the limit on how much bandwidth is used to provide direct unregulated profit.

UPDATE: Here’s the speech.