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The FCC will make a final vote to reverse the net neutrality rules in December

Kevin Parrish
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net neutrality rules fraud
On December 14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote to dismantle net neutrality rules set in place by the Obama administration in 2015. The vote will be led by Chairman Ajit Pai, who introduced a plan to reclassify broadband internet access as a utility allegedly in favor of corporate and job growth. Pai introduced his plan in April, which received a 2-1 vote to advance into the planning stage, reeling in more than 22 million comments from the public.

Reversing the net neutrality rules will allow internet service providers (ISP) to possibly block or throttle specific traffic. For instance, an ISP could choose to slow the data flow of Netflix in favor of its own video streaming service. To bring its video flow back up to speed on that specific ISP, Netflix would have to pay more money for a “fast lane.” That additional fee would be felt by Netflix subscribers through an increased monthly rate.

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Right now, the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules provide an even flow of data across the internet. The only speed throttling involved is tied to clamping down on pirates and on people using more than their allowed amount of monthly data. But with the net neutrality rules revoked, ISPs will be free to throttle and block content at will.

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“We fully support net neutrality,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said a few years back. “We want to keep the internet open. Net neutrality ensures network operators don’t discriminate by limiting access to services you want to use. It’s an essential part of the open internet, and we are fully committed to it.”

Even members of the FCC are opposed to reversing net neutrality rules. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called the plan a “destructive path” that doesn’t place broadband subscribers first. Without the rules, affordable internet access will become more difficult to obtain by low-income Americans. The FCC majority, according to Clyburn, is siding with billion-dollar companies instead of the public interest it was established to protect.

“What consumers want is fast, affordable broadband access,” Clyburn said. “What consumers want is access to a free and open internet without fear of being throttled or assessed a toll by their broadband service provider. Sadly, what they have is an FCC majority that feels otherwise.”

Reclassifying ISPs as a “public utility” (think land-based phones) will push them under the corporate-friendly “telecommunications business” envelope. Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler used the Communications Act of 1934 two years ago to better regulate broadband providers. Up until then, broadband providers were managed under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

But even in 2015, Pai argued that the FCC had no business regulating broadband access and that the rules were unnecessary. The big tug-of-war in Washington, D.C., it seems, is that the Federal Trade Commission regulated broadband access prior to the FCC’s net neutrality rules. Thus, the bigger broadband picture is more than just net neutrality — it’s also about your privacy. The FTC said in March that the broadband classification shift from “business” to “utility” in 2015 created a privacy protection gap.

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Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
U.S. Senate forces a vote that could restore net neutrality
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Net neutrality

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during the Senate Democrats' news conference to officially file petition to force a vote on net neutrality on Wednesday, May 9, 2018. Bill Clark/Getty Images

Using its powers as outlined in the Congressional Review Act, a group of Democratic senators has submitted a "discharge petition" which could set the stage for the restoration of net neutrality in the U.S. There are still quite a few hurdles standing in the way, however.

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FCC’s net neutrality rules officially end, but 18 ISPs promise to stay honest
FCC's historic decision on Net neutrality

The Federal Register showed that the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) net neutrality rules would come to an end on April 23, and now, that has come to pass. The killing blow entered the register on Thursday, February 22, stating that the FCC returns to the "light-touch regulatory scheme" that kept America's public-accessed internet in check since the 1990s. As promised, this ruling went into effect on Monday, April 23. That means internet service providers (ISPs) no longer fall under the government-regulated "utility" umbrella. 
"The Commission restores the classification of broadband internet access service as a lightly regulated information service and reinstates the private mobile service classification of mobile broadband internet access service." 
The demise of the FCC's net neutrality rules doesn't necessarily mean ISPs will go wild and start charging outrageous fees and throttle connections on a whim. They didn't do that prior to the creation of the net neutrality rules, and likely won't resort to evil plotting once the rules expire this spring. But the FCC does have a few leashes set in place to keep internet subscribers from quivering in their boots. 
Called the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, the regulation forces ISPs like Comcast to publicly provide their commercial terms of service. They must also keep the public informed about their network management practices and their performance characteristics. The FCC believes this level of transparency will protect the "openness" of the internet versus imposing rules that are "costly" rather than beneficial. 
Yet there is still an uncertainty about what happens next. The big fear is that, with the net neutrality rules now eliminated, ISPs will start regulating internet traffic based on content and price. For instance, an ISP could provide its own video streaming service at full speed, but force Netflix to cough up extra cash if it wants customers to experience identical streaming speeds. That rise in cost would trickle down to subscribers. 
This wasn't a problem prior to the net neutrality rules, but streaming services are now more abundant, hence the fear that the services we use every day -- especially for cord cutters -- could end up costing more money now to access the same services they loved when net neutrality rules kept ISPs in check. 
Hopefully, the FCC's transparency push will help customers understand the pros and cons of what an ISP could offer. Right now, just getting the prices of the several different internet tiers provided via Charter's Spectrum service feels like pulling teeth. It's little details like price hiding that has internet surfers up in arms about any lack of regulation. 
Many ISPs such as Comcast, Charter, and 16 other companies have already pledged not to block or throttle internet connections outside the piracy envelope. In the case that throttling and/or blocking does occur, they will be required to report the root cause. ISPs must also answer to the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice. 
Though the net neutrality rules have become defunct, customers likely won't see the aftermath for a few months. Yet with government agencies keeping a watchful eye, ISPs may stay on their best behavior.
Updated on April 24: The FCC's net neutrality rules are officially no more. 

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Oregon is the latest state to jump on the net neutrality bandwagon
net neutrality rules fraud

Oregon is pushing to become another state enforcing its own protection against internet service providers in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) discontinuing its net neutrality rules. The state's proposal to create a local net neutrality policy passed the House on Monday, February 26 by a large margin, and now heads to the Senate. 
Similar to what New York state now enforces, Oregon's plan is to block state agencies from conducting business with internet service providers (ISPs) that don't abide by net neutrality principles. Even though the FCC's rules will officially go offline in April, state governments still expect ISPs to abide by those rules and treat all content and connections equally. 
The big fear with the elimination of net neutrality is that unregulated ISPs will prioritize content. For instance, an ISP could offer its own media streaming service and throttle Netflix streaming speeds. In order for Netflix to have the same flow of data, the ISP could charge Netflix additional fees which would trickle down to subscribers. 
While ISPs already provide multiple speed tiers to meet the budgets of all web surfers, blocking and/or prioritizing specific apps and content could lead to dividing the internet into "performance" tiers. Many ISPs already pledge to abide by net neutrality, but so far there is no written guarantee these companies won't backtrack on their promise.  
That is where the states come in. The governors in five states already have net neutrality rules in place including Hawaii, Montana, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. Eight other states are still working on finalizing their net neutrality rules the old-fashioned way: Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin. 
In most cases, these states aren't regulating internet connections in the home. Instead, they're making sure state-owned agencies and services aren't dealing with mischievous content-throttling ISPs. These include educational institutions, offices spread out across the state, and public internet access. Anyone jumping on the internet from these access points is guaranteed a free and open web. 
The FCC's net neutrality rules officially come to a close on April 23 but ISPs won't be let loose without some sort of a leash. These companies are required to publicly provide their commercial terms of service and must keep the public informed about their network management practices along with performance characteristics. The FCC believes this is a better option than forcing "costly" rules. 
But lawmakers feel that pulling business away from ISPs not honoring net neutrality may be influential but won't change their business practices. Others fear that overreaching state-owned agencies could regulate internet content on their own.  
Oregon's move to force net neutrality follows Washington's recent bill landing a majority approval in the state House on February 9, which is now facing a vote in the Senate. But like all the other states enforcing their own net neutrality rules, Washington could face a legal battle. The FCC clearly stated that it will block any state-enforced ruleset that contradicts what it already has in place. 

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