The Federal Communications Commission, now with a Democratic majority, aims to reinstate net neutrality rules that would stop internet service providers playing favorites with traffic, charging more to certain users, or censoring material that displeases them.
The proposed rules from the Federal Communications Commission will designate internet service — both the wired kind found in homes and businesses as well as mobile data on cellphones — as "essential telecommunications" akin to traditional telephone services, according to multiple people familiar with the plan.
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As Ars Technica puts it, "ISPs can't find any judges who will block California's Net Neutrality law", and it's not like they haven't been shopping hard.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who voted for federal net neutrality rules in 2015 and opposed their repeal in 2017, applauded yesterday's court decision."This
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Net Neutrality, the principle that service providers must treat users and services equally and without discrimination, was the bedrock upon which the internet was built. Dealt a federal death-blow under the Trump administration, it was later restored in the state of California. — Read the rest
California AG office reviewing DoJ filing, “[We] look forward to defending California’s state net neutrality protections.”
When Trump FCC Chairman Ajit Pai used fraud and skullduggery to kill net neutrality, he promised that clearing away the allegedly burdensome regulation of delivering the data your customers request would finally spur investment in America's worst-of-bread, ancient network infrastructure.
On Oct 1, a coalition of public interest groups and states' attorneys general lost their appeal in a legal bid to block the FCC's dismantling of federal Net Neutrality protections, accomplished through a mixture of lies and fraud. It was a crushing defeat for Americans and American competitiveness and access to digital life.
Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai rammed through an illegal Net Neutrality repeal by claiming that the Obama-era Net Neutrality rules slowed down investment in broadband, depriving Americans of fast internet.
A year ago, Trump FCC Chairman (and former Verizon exec) Ajit Pai killed Net Neutrality, leveraging illegal, fraudulent industry dirty tricks to ram his rule through the process; all along, he claimed that Net Neutrality was a drag on investment, competition and service improvements, and that Americans would see immediate benefits once he was done killing Net Neutrality.
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Today is the one year anniversary of the FCC repeal of net neutrality going into effect!
Senators who support an open Internet are going to the floor to attempt to force a vote on the Save the Internet Act, the bill to overrule Ajit Pai and restore open Internet protections. — Read the rest
In a 232-190 vote, Congress has passed H.R. 1644, the Save the Internet Act, which directs the FCC to restore the Net Neutrality protections that Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stripped away through a fraudulent, corrupt process in 2017.
ISPs want it both ways: they want to be receive billions in indirect public subsidies (access to rights of ways that would cost unimaginable sums to clear) and direct public subsidies (grant money) but still be able to run their businesses without regard to what the public actually wants (a neutral internet, supported by 87% of Americans, in which your ISP sends you the bits you request, as quickly and efficiently as it can).
This is super important. A key House committee is voting on the Save the Internet Act RIGHT NOW and we need Congress to know that the whole Internet is watching.
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Click here to tell your lawmakers to pass the Save the Internet Act with no bad amendments. — Read the rest
Tuesday morning at 10am ET the House Communications and Technology subcommittee will meet and vote on the Save the Internet Act – the best bill we have to restore net neutrality. As soon as the hearing begins you'll be able to watch the livestream here:
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Unfortunately telecom lobbyists are working overtime to convince committee lawmakers to add dangerous amendments that could completely gut the bill and leave gaping loopholes for Internet providers to block, throttle, and charge users new fees for access. — Read the rest
Last week, House Democrats introduced the Save the Internet Act, to enact the Net Neutrality protections favored by 83% of Americans; in response, Rep Greg Walden (R-OR, @repgregwalden, +1 (541) 776-4646) has proposed legislation rescinding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, "the most important law protecting internet speech", which says that online services are not required to pro-actively censor user postings that might contain illegal speech — a vital protection that made it possible for sites like this one to have comment sections, and also enabled sites like Youtube and Snapchat to accept photos and videos from the public.
Ever since he killed Net Neutrality with dirty tricks and illegal tactics, Donald Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has been claiming that his actions had stimulated broadband growth in America, a claim his spokesvillain repeated yesterday in response to Democrats introducing legislation to restore Net Neutrality.
House Democrats have made good on their promise to introduce the Save the Internet Act, legislation mandating Network Neutrality, which would force the FCC to reinstate the policy that Trump's Chairman Ajit Pai used a string of dirty tricks and illegal maneuvers to destroy.
The text of the proposed legislation has not been released.
US government agencies can't just make up rules: they're require to show that the rules they make reflect the best evidence, and part of that is a "notice and comment" period for major policy shifts where the public gets to weigh in on proposals.
When Trump FCC Chairman Ajit Pai cheated his way to a repeal of Net Neutrality, he justified allowing ISPs to decide to slow down the services you want to use by saying that doing so would encourage investment in network buildout, saving America from its sad status as one of the most expensive, slowest places to use the internet in the rich world.
The same year that Trump's FCC Chairman Ajit Pai killed broadband privacy and cheated Network Neutrality to death, the Trump tax plan delivered a $20B windfall to AT&T — both Trump and Pai claimed that the measures would stimulate the economy and trickle down to the rest of us.
