Civic Register
| 11.21.17

FCC Outlining Plan to Roll Back Net-Neutrality

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What’s the story?

This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to unveil their plan for the future of net neutrality. The Obama -era rule had required that internet service providers (ISPs) treat all web traffic equally; the FCC is expected to roll back this regulation at their mid-December meeting.

In 2015, the FCC crafted regulations to ban ISPs from throttling speeds to certain sites and giving preference to some sites over others. But the current head of the FCC, Ajit Pai, has said these rules unfairly burden the ISPs, especially "mom and pop" ones, and that the government should not preemptively impose regulations on ISPs.

"My concern is that, by imposing those heavy-handed economic regulations on Internet service providers big and small, we could end up disincentivizing companies from wanting to build out Internet access to a lot of parts of the country, in low-income, urban and rural areas," Pai said.

The expected changes, the Wall Street Journal wrote (paywall), "would open the door to a wide range of new opportunities for internet providers, such as forming alliances with content firms to serve up their webpages or video at higher speeds and quality than those without such deals."

Why does it matter?

The idea of net neutrality is that all Internet traffic should be free to run at equal speeds. Some large ISPs support rules that would allow them to prioritize or speed-up the communications of certain sites over others, or even block some sites. Under current law, ISPs like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T are barred from dictating which sites their clients may access, or

throttle-down the speed of certain sites.

To better understand this theory in practice, consider Comcast, just one of many large companies that delivers the Internet to millions of Americans. Comcast is affiliated with television producer NBC. Without net neutrality rules, Comcast would be free to promote NBC’s content over ABC’s, and/or provide slower load times for ABC.com. The Internet is currently an open superhighway; without net neutrality, that highway could have fast and slow lanes.

Advocates of net neutrality argue that the FCC needs to regulate ISPs to keep them from "controlling" the internet. Battle For The Net – who arranged this summer’s Net Neutrality Day of Action – wrote:

"FCC Chair Ajit Pai is about to announce a vote to slash America's net neutrality rules — meaning companies like Comcast & Verizon will be able to block apps, slow websites, and charge fees to control what you see & do online."

Michael Beckerman, president and chief executive officer of the Internet Association, told the Journal:

"There is simply no reasonable justification for repealing the net neutrality protections currently on the books. Consumers are paying for access to the entire internet, and [ISPs] should not be able to discriminate against websites and apps."

Proponents of reversing the status quo, including Pai, "say hard-and-fast rules can stifle investment and innovation in a fast-moving industry," according to the Journal. ISPs, they wrote, “also viewed the rules as a solution in search of a problem, given the internet’s relative openness historically.”

Pai has also argued that if the U.S. introduces strong net neutrality protections, it could provide a green light for authoritarian states to crack down on online freedoms.

"If in the United States we adopt regulations that assert more government control over how the Internet operates… it becomes a lot more difficult for us to go on the international stage and tell governments: ‘Look, we want you to keep your hands off the Internet,’" Pai said. "Even if the ideas aren’t completely identical, you can appreciate the optical difficult[y] in trying to make that case."

What do you think?

Should the web remain neutral? Or should ISPs treat the internet more like cable TV, offering tiered payment plans for the sites and apps you use? Hit the Take Action button and tell your Reps. And make sure to use our widget to contact FCC Chair Ajit Pai directly.

— Josh Herman

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(Photo Credit: ArtemSam / iStockphoto)