Broadband stimulus guidelines call for net neutrality - FierceWireless

The Obama administration released grant guidelines for the government's $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package Wednesday, and the rules call for net neutrality provisions to be applied to grant winners. The stipulations may deter wireless companies wary of complying with the rules.

Grant winners will have to follow the FCC's 2005 Internet Policy statement, which prohibits companies from deliberately blocking or slowing a competitor's Internet traffic. Grant winners must "not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others," the rules state. FCC commissioner Michael Copps has said that those rules apply to wireless companies. The new FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, has not yet given his opinion on the issue. Public interest groups, including Free Press, applauded the net neutrality efforts...