The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on whether to restore an Obama-era policy that would treat the internet as a utility such as water and gas.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, announced on April 3 that the agency will vote on April 25 whether to reinstate net neutrality.
Net neutrality requires internet providers to treat all websites with the same speed as opposed to favoring websites. Critics, however, say that this policy stymies innovation that would create better and lower-priced options and therefore leads to higher internet prices.
“So here we go again. It’s been two years since the White House asked Congress and the country to be all in on Internet for All,” said USTelecom President and CEO Jonathan Spalter in a statement. “But just as this goal is now within reach, the FCC is pumping the brakes with this entirely counterproductive, unnecessary, and anti-consumer regulatory distraction. America deserves better.”
The Obama administration implemented net neutrality in 2015, but the Trump administration reversed it in 2017.
“What is the FCC doing today?” asked then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, at the meeting to undo the policy. “Quite simply, we are restoring the light-touch framework that has governed the internet for most of its existence.”
In a statement announcing the upcoming vote, Ms. Rosenworcel said the pandemic “proved once and for all” that broadband access is essential.
“After the prior administration abdicated authority over broadband services, the FCC has been handcuffed from acting to fully secure broadband networks, protect consumer data, and ensure the internet remains fast, open, and fair,” she continued. “A return to the FCC’s overwhelmingly popular and court-approved standard of net neutrality will allow the agency to serve once again as a strong consumer advocate of an open internet.”
Net Neutrality Helps Consumers, FCC Says
In addition to stopping internet providers from favoring websites, said Ms. Rosenworcel, net neutrality would “provide oversight over broadband outages,” “boost security of broadband networks,” “increase consumer protections,” and “restore a widely accepted national standard.”Big internet providers support net neutrality, also known as an “open internet.”
On its website, Comcast states that it is “for sustainable and legally enforceable net neutrality protections for our customers.”
In October, the FCC voted to proceed with the process to bring back net neutrality, which provides the public 30 days to comment on the possible rule change.
Were the FCC to reinstate net neutrality, it would return fixed and mobile broadband service to its status as an essential telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act.
Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu coined the term “net neutrality” in 2003 to argue for government rules that would prevent big internet providers from discriminating against technology and services that clashed with other aspects of their business. Allowing such discrimination, he reasoned, would choke off innovation. But big telecommunications companies argue that they should be able to control the pipes they built and own.
The net neutrality rules also gave the FCC power to go after companies for business practices that weren’t explicitly banned.
For example, the FCC under the Obama administration said that “zero rating” practices by AT&T violated net neutrality. The telecommunications giant exempted its own video app from cellphone data caps, which would save some consumers money, and said video rivals could pay for the same treatment.
A federal appeals court upheld the rules in 2016 after broadband providers sued.
