The Federal Communications Commission is considering new net neutrality rules that would permit providers to charge a premium for faster speeds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The rules were developed by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, with the idea of preventing providers such as Time Warner Cable from slowing down individual websites to consumers. “The idea is that consumers should be able to access whatever content they choose, not the content chosen by the broadband provider,” the story notes.

The report adds: “But it would also allow providers to give preferential treatment to traffic from some content providers, as long as such arrangements are available on ‘commercially reasonable’ terms for all interested content companies. Whether the terms are commercially reasonable would be decided by the FCC on a case-by-case basis.”

Not everyone is likely to be pleased by the proposed rules. “Some advocates of an open Internet argue that preferential treatment for some content companies inevitably will result in discriminatory treatment for others,” the piece notes.

Tom Wheeler