12/14/2017
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today voted to repeal Net Neutrality rules put in place by the Obama Administration. The regulations prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government will also no longer regulate high-speed internet delivery as if it were a utility.
Under the new rule, internet service providers will be free to practice blocking, throttling and paid prioritization as long as they disclose those practices as per a new transparency requirement. Further, states will not be able to override the stipulations of the new order with their own legislation. Any state laws that contradict the FCC’s newly enacted plan will be considered moot.
Americans overwhelmingly support net neutrality principles and opposed the efforts to repeal Obama’s FCC’s Internet rules, according to a recent nationwide poll on technology policy. The poll found 76.6% supported keeping the net neutrality rules that had been in place. The poll also found 90.9% of Americans thought internet service providers should not be allowed to block users from certain websites, slow them down, or be able to charge extra fees to reach them.
The three Republican members; Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Brendan Carr voted in favor of the proposal to repeal the rules, while both Democrat Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel voted against it.
In her dissent of the vote today, Commissioner Rosenworcel wrote, “Net neutrality is internet freedom. I support that freedom. I dissent from this rash decision to roll back net neutrality rules. I dissent from the corrupt process that has brought us to this point. And I dissent from the contempt this agency has shown our citizens in pursuing this path today. This decision puts the Federal Communications Commission on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the American public.”
Commissioner Clyburn opened her response to the proposal by saying, “I dissent. I dissent from this fiercely-spun, legally-lightweight, consumer-harming, corporate-enabling Destroying Internet Freedom Order.”
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