Earlier this month, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski put forward a plan to reclassify broadband transmission as a telecommunications service, subject to common carrier rules. Many experts believe that such a reclassification is necessary before the FCC can impose net neutrality regulations that would ban Internet service providers from discriminating against particular sites or applications.
Genachowski's proposal involves reclassifying broadband transmission as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, but forbearing from terms "that are unnecessary and inappropriate for broadband access service."