奧巴馬反對設立互聯網快車道

President Barack Obama has urged the US Communications regulator to ban internet “fast lanes” and reclassify broadband service as a public utility, sparking outrage among cable and telecoms groups.

巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)總統敦促美國電信監管機構禁止設立互聯網“快車道”，並將寬帶服務重新定義爲公共服務，此舉激起有線電視和電信企業的強烈不滿。

Mr Obama weighed in for the first time with specific recommendations for the Federal Communications Commission, which is revising its definition of “net neutrality” – the principle that all internet traffic be treated equally.

這是奧巴馬首次介入此問題，並對聯邦通信委員會（Federal Communications Commission，簡稱FCC）提出明確的建議。FCC正在修改“網絡中立”原則（即所有互聯網流量都應得到同等對待）的定義。

His intervention follows a flood of opposition to the agency’s latest proposals, which have prompted 4m comments to the FCC. Its plan would allow internet service providers to charge services like YouTube to reach customers at higher speeds, though only on “commercially reasonable” terms. That sparked uproar among consumer groups and companies like Netflix, another target of such charges.

此前，FCC最新的建議招致抗議浪潮，收到的留言和評論多達400萬條。該機構的方案將允許互聯網服務提供商對YouTube等服務收費，以便讓這些服務以更快的速度到達消費者，儘管這樣做必須按照“合理的商業”條款。這激起了消費者團體和Netflix等企業的強烈憤慨，Netflix是此類收費的另一個目標。

Joining consumer groups and technology companies like Google and Facebook, Mr Obama said there should be a ban on paid prioritisation that would technically allow internet service providers to charge content companies like Netflix for a higher-speed service.

奧巴馬站在了消費者團體和谷歌(Google)、Facebook等科技企業一邊，表示應該禁止“收費優先”，“收費優先”將允許互聯網服務提供商對Netflix等內容商收費，以換取爲後者提供更快速度的服務。

“Simply put: no service should be stuck in a ‘slow lane’ because it does not pay a fee,” Mr Obama said. “That kind of gatekeeping would undermine the level playing field essential to the internet’s growth.”

“簡言之：任何服務都不應因爲沒有交費而被卡在‘慢車道’裏，”奧巴馬錶示，“這種收取買路錢的行爲將損害對互聯網的發展至關重要的公平環境。”

His comments triggered a sell-off in shares of cable companies, which are among the biggest providers of broadband internet.

他的言論引發了一輪有線電視股拋售，這些企業是寬帶服務的主要提供者。

Comcast, the world’s biggest cable operator, fell 4.3 per cent, while Time Warner Cable was off 5 per cent. Comcast is seeking regulators’ approval for a takeover of TWC.

世界最大有線電視運營商康卡斯特(Comcast)的股價應聲下跌4.3%，時代華納有線(Time Warner Cable)股價下跌了5%。康卡斯特正在爭取監管者批准其收購時代華納有線。

Comcast, whose executives have been prominent donors to Mr Obama, and telecoms groups such as Verizon have vigorously opposed the president’s idea that the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service as a public utility.

康卡斯特和Verizon等電信企業都強烈反對總統關於FCC應將消費者寬帶服務重新定義爲公共服務的想法。前者的高管一直是奧巴馬的重要金主。