US extends ‘net neutrality’ comment deadline to September 15

Fiber optic cables carrying Internet providers are seen in a server room at Intergate.Manhattan, a data center owned and operated by Sabey Data Center Properties, during a tour of the facility in lower Manhattan, New York, March 20, 2013. The 32-story building will be the world’s largest data center tower with 600,000 square feet (55,742 square meters) of floor space and 40 megawatts of electrical capacity. REUTERS/Mike Segar (UNITED STATES – Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY REAL ESTATE BUSINESS) – RTR3F8TO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Friday it will accept public comments on proposed new “net neutrality” rules until Sept. 15, giving Americans more time to weigh in on how they think internet traffic should be regulated.

The FCC has already received more than a million comments on new rules for how internet service providers will be able to manage internet traffic on their networks.

The FCC set a July 15 deadline for initial comments, and then a September 10 deadline for responses to those initial comments. But the influx of submissions overwhelmed the FCC’s website, and the agency delayed the first deadline by three business days.

“To provide members of the public with as much time as originally anticipated to respond to initial comments in this proceeding, the Office is today extending the deadline for submitting responses by three business days,” the FCC said Friday, delaying the comment deadline to Sept. 15.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)