FCC Announces Plan to Repeal Net Neutrality

But critics say that will just destroy the regulations protecting net neutrality.

Net neutrality is the concept that all internet traffic should be treated equally, no matter what internet service provider (ISPs) is carrying it. ISPs claim such rules stifle investment and innovation. But there are some very big open questions beyond that: namely, what consumer protections with the FCC put in place of the rules that it’s striking down? Companies’ terms of service and related policies are not meant to protect consumers, they are intended to protect businesses, and they can change anytime.

Ajit made it clear in his 2015 dissenting remark to the Open Internet Order of the FCC saying that the internet is probably the greatest success of the free market in history, and that was accredited in large part to the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Comcast has a monopoly over Internet service in my area.

“Network providers have business incentives to make their media products more desirable than their competitors, like Netflix or YouTube”, David Choffnes, an assistant professor in Northeastern’s College of Computer and Information Science, said in an university publication earlier this year. Pai said that under the new rules, ISPs would only need to be transparent about their practices for managing internet connections, and it would be up to the Federal Trade Commission to enforce consumer protection and competition rules. But, the FTC is a single agency, which will be placed in charge of protecting consumers across a wide range of industries. The FCC used that strong legal authority to bar the providers from slowing or blocking web traffic or charging for faster passage across their networks.

Current regulations bar Internet-service providers – such as AT&T, Charter or Verizon- from speeding up or slowing down specific content.

“We should simply set rules of the road that let companies of all kinds in every sector compete and let consumers decide who wins and loses”, Pai added. The proposal, which will be up for public view tomorrow, is largely expected to pass with the vote splitting along party lines. For this reason, some have described net neutrality as the “first amendment of the internet”.

“The more heavily you regulate something, the less of it you’re likely to get”, Pai said in an April speech. From there, perhaps there will be months and months of court battles, and perhaps we will all be screwed.

We can not allow the repeal of net neutrality.

The next target of the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback appears to be net neutrality. Moreover, paid fast lanes could allow wealthy companies to pay for better service, giving them an edge over start-up companies.

“In most locations in the United States, competition among broadband providers is poor, so we can’t easily switch to a provider that will give us better terms”, said Northeastern’s Choffnes.