Net neutrality rules reversed by U.S. vote

Net Neutrality bars internet companies like AT&T and Verizon from indulging into any act of manipulation, including speeding up & slowing down speed or blocking any web contents.

Federal regulators in the United States have voted to reverse rules ensuring a free and open internet, in a decision opponents say will have huge ramifications. But regulators, consumer advocates and internet companies were concerned about what broadband companies could do with their power as the pathway to the internet – blocking or slowing down apps that rival their own services, for example. “We are restoring the light-touch framework that has governed the Internet for most of its existence”.

Lawmakers, influenced by the tremendous lobbying power of ISPs such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T among others have made a decision to brutally murder Net Neutrality, and things have changed at a rapid pace in the last 24 hours.

FCC rollback backers argue that neutrality rules crimp broadband firms and prevent investment in new high-speed services such as video conferencing, telemedicine and connected vehicles that would need “fast lanes”. The free and open exchange of ideas, to the extent that it exists, will be the exclusive purview of the rich.

Senator Bill Nelson likely will face a hard battle in Florida and sent a letter earlier in the week opposing the change in net neutrality rules.

The FCC subscribed to the principle of net neutrality for over a decade and enshrined it in rules adopted in 2015.

The internet, he said, “has functioned without net neutrality rules for far longer than it has with them”.

“It is deeply disturbing that Pai’s FCC has refused to take action to combat the threat of identity theft and fake comments in the agency record, and has refused to comply with FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests or requests for information from the New York Attorney General’s Investigation”, Pelosi said. However, these companies have shown that they are perfectly willing to forge deals with the ISPs when it is in their interests.

In short, as it is clearly evident, Mr. Pai has been bought off by the rich lobby of ISPs in the United States, and this resulted in the brutal murder of Net Neutrality as we are witnessing today. Such an arrangement would feed on Google’s own efforts to censor the internet through the manipulation of its search results.

“The internet fuels economic opportunity, civic engagement, and social action”.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the Trump Administration backs the FCC’s move but also supports a free and fair internet.

The ending of net neutrality has provoked widespread opposition among workers and young people. “It’s possible for Millennial political leadership to make a real difference here”.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey said he would ask lawmakers for a regulatory review to overturn what he called the FCC’s “misguided and partisan decision” in order to “keep the internet in the hands of the people”.

Yet, some fear it’s also possible internet providers will one day begin charging customers more to access services like Netflix that are now included as part of your monthly bill.