MR. KOJO NNAMDIHere on the show, it seems we've been talking about Net Neutrality for years -- at least five years, probably closer to 10. So we're trying to make sense of what's going on today at the Federal Communications Commission, where commissioners will be voting to require all Internet traffic to be treated equally without regard to who created it or whose customers it's flowing to. The idea is to protect the consumer, to make sure broadband and wireless service providers are not favoring some content over others.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIYou would think most people would be happy about this. So why are even those who support it doing so somewhat unwillingly? And what's going on? We thought they would have voted earlier. We invited Washington Post technology reporter Cecilia Kang to try to explain it to us. She joins us by telephone from the FCC. Cecilia Kang covers technology issues for The Washington Post. Cecilia, welcome.

MS. CECILIA KANGThank you for having me, Kojo.

NNAMDIWhat's holding up the vote?

KANGWhat's holding up the vote is a lot of long speeches, talking from -- commissioners talking about what they don't and what they do like about this Net Neutrality regulation, a first-time rule on how consumers access the Internet.

NNAMDIGive us the basic of what companies will be able to and not be able to do if these new rules -- some would say when these new rules -- are approved...

KANGRight.

NNAMDI...because it looks like the chairman has the votes to approve them.

KANGIt certainly does. Any minute now, this will be a first-time rule. Well, if you are a company that supplies the Internet connections to 60 percent of American homes -- the broadband providers, the Comcasts, the Time Warners of the world -- you don't really want the Internet regulated any more than you already are. So they're against the rules. They're against the idea that they can't have a little bit more control over the pipes that run into your home, the broadband Internet pipes. If you're a company like Facebook or Skype or Netflix or Google -- an Internet content company they call it -- then you like the rules to a certain extent because you want to make sure that those Internet access providers that I just described earlier can't control you, whether you get to a consumer or not.

NNAMDIOkay. What, if any, real tooth -- teeth will these rules provide?

KANGYeah, well, there's a lot of discussion as to whether this teeth has -- this rule has much teeth or bite at all, really. There are sort of two different ways to think about it. The lines that go into your home, the fixed wire lines, will be protected from any blocking or any slowing down of some traffic over others. Your wireless phones, though, they're going to be pretty much unregulated. They're going to be free. If you are Apple, you can block apps on the App Store.

KANGIf you are Verizon, you can choose to make your social networking app that you may introduce in the future, get better treatment than, say, Facebook. So if you like to make status updates from your smart phone, that might be a little harder in the future. These are all sort of hypothetical things, but things that the FCC is trying to be predictive of in the future for Internet users.

NNAMDIWell, these are all hypothetical things, but this is the very real Washington, as a result of which, the proposal seems to be getting slammed from both sides. Why?

KANGYeah, you know, the FCC chairman is not getting a lot of love on this particular regulation from either side. I think those who -- the Googles and the Skypes of the world, that I just talked about, and the consumer advocacy groups want a regulation that does have, you know, sharper teeth or stronger bite -- whatever metaphor you want to use. The Internet service providers think any rules at all is not really good rule, but they're willing to give sort of this compromise of rules. And that's what the FCC chairman is trying to do.

KANGHe introduced this idea more than a year ago -- about 16, 17 months ago -- and it's been a long slog because there's been so much vocal opposition, a lot of lobbying, a lot of deep pocket companies that are here in Washington, spending a lot of money on lawyers and lobbyists to make sure that the rules either make it or don't make it or they're bended in some way to the position that they want. So it's been a long slog. In the end, the chairman has come up with what he has described himself as something that's sort of in the middle, a compromise. And you know, compromises in Washington don't really go well with the -- over for anyone, really.

NNAMDIAnd I know that his two supporters on the commission, the two Democrats, were looking to make some alterations. You say, now they're making speeches. So there's no likelihood that there are any going to be -- that there are going to be any changes in the rule before they vote.

KANGNo. And the rules are pretty -- yesterday, the rules are pretty much set. Today, they're just sort of justifying or explaining where they stand. The two Democratic allies that the chairman has will vote in favor -- they've already announced that -- at these rules…

NNAMDIYep.

KANGSo they'll get the majority. But they are commissioners who are very strong proponents of rules for wireless phones. For example, they even want the FCC to redefine whether they can -- the FCC can be a regulator of broadband Internet services. These are all the questions. And the rules today fall short of that, and they're not happy about that. And they want people to know that, yes, even though we're voting for these rules, we're doing it sort of begrudgingly.

NNAMDIWhat do you make of those people who say Net Neutrality must now go directly to the courts after this vote? They argue that the FCC does not have the authority under the Communications Act to enforce the principles it's laying out.

KANGSure. Well, that's going to be sort of phase two or phase three, four, five, six -- however you want it -- depending on your viewpoint of this particular policy battle, Net neutrality. This rule, this regulation will surely be challenged in courts. It'll also be challenged by lawmakers, who will probably introduce bills to try to overthrow it. This is not the end of the creation of a federal government rule on Internet access. This is the first attempt at doing so, but it will -- the next time that a company is caught maybe blocking or slowing traffic unfairly, brought forth maybe by consumer complaint, the -- a company could very easily go to the courts and say, look, the federal courts have already said the FCC may not have authority to even enforce or bring forward this regulation. That's definitely something to telegraph the future. That's something that the FCC chairman has said that he expects as well.

NNAMDITiming seems to be everything. Is it fair to say that if Netflix had not started directly streaming over the Internet recently, we might not be here right now?

KANGYou know, I think these discussions have been at play for a while. But what I find so fascinating about the Netflix story and arguments by some of their traffic carriers, like Level 3, and, really, the threat that Netflix and Hulu have presented to sort of the old guard -- the cable companies and satellite companies -- is that they have made this Net Neutrality -- it's very esoteric regulatory debate -- real for consumers. Consumers sieve as a very viable option the idea of what you call and -- Kojo and I have talked about this...

NNAMDIYep.

KANG...quite a bit -- cutting the cord. They see that as a very viable option in spending just money on their broadband service...

NNAMDIYep.

KANG...and maybe a very cheap subscription service to Hulu or Netflix.

NNAMDIThat's what I do.

KANGSo now this very esoteric sort of, you know, hard to understand grasp idea that's been at play -- like you said in the interim for about five years now -- really are coming to fore and consumers could sort of understand it now.

NNAMDIWell, Cecilia, I know you're covering it. And the vote still has not taken place yet. Has -- have there been any fisticuffs exchanged so far?

KANGYeah, it's pretty clear that there will be a majority, three Democratic yesses to two Republican nos. And it will be a first-time regulation of Internet access.

NNAMDIWell, just call us back if a fistfight breaks out. Cecilia Kang covers technology issues for The Washington Post. Cecilia, thank you so much for joining us.

KANGThank you. Lots of fun.

NNAMDICecilia joined us by telephone from the FCC, where they are still talking about the rule for Net Neutrality. It's likely to be voted on today and approved. Thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.