General Motors has recently come out in favor of net neutrality, at least as it pertains to mobile data.
In a recent letter to the FCC from GM Global Connected Consumer Executive Harry Lightsey III, the automaker outlines the importance of not allowing for artificial constraints to inhibit mobile data speed, as “the coming years will see rapid innovation at the intersection of cars and mobile communications,” he wrote. The letter went on to say: “By needlessly constraining the latitude our mobile network operator suppliers have in delivering their connectivity to owners of our vehicles, you would also constrain the innovations we are seeking to provide to our customers.”
This places General Motors on a list including such corporations as Facebook and Google, who oppose the government allowing Internet Service Providers to express any sort of favoritism to certain types of data downloads, or certain price tiers of access. Of course, it’s been a contentious issue for awhile already as it relates to wired broadband. But as Lightsey also writes in his letter to the FCC, “mobile broadband being delivered to a car moving at 75 mph down a highway… is a fundamentally different phenomenon from a wired broadband connection to a consumer’s home, and merits continued consideration under distinct rules that take this in to account.”
It’s a complex issue with a lot of moving parts, but we can expect General Motors to be keeping up the good fight for months to come, until the FCC (possibly) makes a ruling later this year.
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