FCC votes to repeal net neutrality rules

Source: Politico | December 14, 2017 | Margaret Harding McGill

The FCC repealed its Obama-era net neutrality rules on Thursday, a step critics warn will upend the internet by allowing cable companies to control where their customers can go online.

The vote capped months of debate pitting internet service providers and Republicans against tech companies and Democrats — along with a controversy over millions of fake public comments that flooded the FCC’s website.

The FCC’s order, from Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, eliminates rules that require companies like Comcast and AT&T to treat all web traffic equally as it passes through their networks. In its place, the agency says internet providers will be allowed to block or slow some web traffic or negotiate paid deals with websites for so-called fast lanes to consumers — in exchange for disclosing those practices to the public. Another agency, the FTC, will have the power to act if those practices are deemed anti-competitive or harmful to consumers, the FCC’s Republicans say.

The rollback is a victory for the telecom industry and a milestone achievement for Pai, a longtime FCC commissioner and former Verizon lawyer who was elevated by President Donald Trump to the agency’s top spot in January. Pai’s focus in his first year as chairman has been on revoking regulations adopted by his Democratic predecessors. His biggest target has been the 2015 net neutrality rules, a signature policy accomplishment of the Obama administration.

Pai argues that the FCC, in applying utility-style regulation to internet providers, was too heavy-handed and led to the government “micromanaging the internet.” He says the rules have deterred investment in broadband networks, an argument that supporters of the current rules reject. Both sides have offered warring economic studies on the rules’ impact since the 2015 rules took effect.

“The government shouldn’t be in the business of picking winners and losers in the Internet economy,” Pai said Thursday. “We should have a level playing field and let consumers decide who prevails.”

The leaders of the major cable and wireless industry groups say consumers won’t see a difference in their online experience because internet service providers are committed to net neutrality principles even if they’re not mandated.

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