By: Robin Andrews/IFL Science The Republican head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, announced this week that the agency will seek to fully repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules. In a statement, he claimed that the Democrats imposed “heavy-handed, utility-style” regulations on the Internet, and they needed to be undone.
“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,” Pai said in a statement, as per The Hill.
The vote on the proposal will take place on December 14, but it’s widely expected to be in support of a full repeal as the FCC is Republican-dominated. The name of this initiative, by the way, is “Restoring Internet Freedom”.
Chairman @AjitPaiFCC proposes to end heavy-handed Internet regulations and restore light-touch approach under which Internet thrived prior to 2015.
— The FCC (@FCC) November 21, 2017
Net neutrality, as a basic principle, guarantees that internet service providers (ISP) and government-run agencies ensure that all legal websites are treated equally, and access to them is open to everyone that has a connection to the Web.
Not all countries have it, and Portugal recently made headlines for being a worrying case study of what happens when such laws are circumvented. Although technically bound by the European Union’s net neutrality rules, legal loopholes allow businesses there to sometimes ignore them.
A Lisbon-based telecommunications company took advantage of the government’s lackadaisical attitude and experimented with selling mobile Internet access in tiered packages. The cheapest packages, for example, permit only instant messaging or social media use; only more expensive combinations permit the user to access everything, from emails to music to video streaming and so on.
This will be our future if we don’t stop the FCC from ending #NetNeutrality. pic.twitter.com/4OlBNaw226
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) November 22, 2017
In effect, with this system, you get a restricted Internet access unless you spend more – something that net neutrality laws would prevent.
Netflix supports strong #NetNeutrality. We oppose the FCC’s proposal to roll back these core protections.
— Netflix US (@netflix) November 21, 2017
Thanks to the Obama administration’s strong support for net neutrality, the US gained some of the best protections in the world back in 2015. It classified broadband as a common carrier under that year’s Open Internet Order, keeping ISPs from cutting off, slowing, or restricting access to the Internet as they see fit.
However, ever since the changing of the guard, the FCC has been seeking to undo these rules, despite nearly 22 million Americans (along with several high-profile Web-based services) writing in to protest such a move.
Taking away #NetNeutrality is the Authoritarian dream. Consolidating information into the hands of a few controlled by a few. Dangerous territory. https://t.co/ZVdvmGzcHf
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) November 21, 2017
As we explain in a previous article, this will turn the Internet into a product more than a utility. This means that companies or individuals willing to pay more will get an Internet service that’s freer, more accessible, and faster in general.
Played out over time, this could create two classes of citizens: one that is rich in money and information, and one that is experiencing a deficit in both. This is exactly what was alluded to by an FCC employee that spoke to reporters over the phone under anonymity.
Last year, the UN Human Rights Council declared that public Internet access should not be disrupted by governments or state-run agencies. The FCC should probably take notice of that.
