The FCC revealed its plan to repeal net neutrality. It could change how we use the Internet
Channel: WOLF X
Date: 2017-11-21

The FCC revealed its plan to repeal net neutrality. It could change how we use the Internet

 Net neutrality - what does it really mean? Time

The Federal Communications Commission will vote next month to repeal the net neutrality rules championed by President Obama, a move that will likely change how we use the Internet.

New proposed regulations are being circulated among the commission today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday. The rules, which the commission will vote on at its Dec. 14 meeting, would replace those Open Internet or Net neutrality rules, which prevented Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or throttling legal content users sought to access, as well as preventing ISPs from accepting payment to prioritize some data.

Pai has criticized the regulations as heavy-handed and an overreach of the FCC's power that stifled ISP investment in network expansion and faster broadband connections.

Released from the current regulations with more business-friendly rules, ISPs could more freely experiment with new services for customers and expand their networks, says Pai, who will release the proposed rule changes to the public Wednesday.

"Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the Internet," Pai said in a statement Tuesday. "Instead, the FCC would simply require Internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them and entrepreneurs and other small businesses can have the technical information they need to innovate."

Passage of the rules would be seen as a victory for big telecom and cable companies such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. More than 94.5 million U.S. homes subscribe to broadband service, according to Leichtman Research Group.

But consumer advocates and Net media companies including Facebook, Google and Netflix are concerned that telecom and cable companies could give preferential benefit to their own services and content.

“Gutting net neutrality will have a devastating effect on free speech online," said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement. "Without it, gateway corporations like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T will have too much power to mess with the free flow of information.”

New rules would restore a "light-touch regulatory approach," said Pai, a Republican appointed by President Trump. As a commissioner, Pai voted against the Obama-supported rules in 2015 when Democrat Tom Wheeler was chairman. The chairman also addressed the issue in a column in The Wall Street Journal Tuesday.

Back in May when the FCC began the process to create rules and overturn the current ones, Pai called it "the start of a new chapter in the public discussion about how we can best maintain a free and open Internet while making sure that ISPs have strong incentives to bring next-generation networks and services to all Americans."

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The new regulations will give ISPs more leeway in their business practices than the Wheeler-championed rules against prioritizing some content over other content, possibly for payment. Also expected to be jettisoned is an Internet conduct standard meant to prevent ISPs from unreasonable interference with consumer's access to destinations on the Net.

The Federal Trade Commission will gain enforcement powers including over consumers' online privacy, Pai says. "The FTC stands ready to protect broadband subscribers from anticompetitive, unfair, or deceptive acts and practices just as we protect consumers in the rest of the Internet ecosystem," acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen said in a statement.




Federal Communications Commission
FCC
Ajit Pai
Net neutrality
Section:tech:news
Type:story