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US FCC chair to seek reinstating net neutrality rules rescinded under Trump (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 year ago by ptz@dubvee.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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cross-posted from: https://dubvee.org/post/205595

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel plans to begin an effort to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules rescinded under then-President Donald Trump, sources briefed on the matter said Monday.

The move comes after Democrats took majority control of the five-member FCC on Monday for the first time since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 when new FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez was sworn in.

The FCC is set to take an initial vote on the net neutrality proposal in October, the sources added.

In July 2021, Biden signed an executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate net neutrality rules adopted under Democratic then-President Barack Obama in 2015.

The FCC voted in 2017 to reverse the rules that barred internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic, or offering paid fast lanes, also known as paid prioritization. Days before the 2020 presidential election, the FCC voted to maintain the reversal.

Rosenworcel denounced the repeal in 2017 saying it put the FCC "on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the American public."

She plans a speech to outline her plans on Tuesday, the sources added. A spokesperson for Rosenworcel declined to comment.

In 2022, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that the 2017 decision by the FCC to reverse federal net neutrality protections could not bar state action, rejecting a challenge from telecom and broad industry groups to block California's net neutrality law. Industry groups abandoned further legal challenges in May 2022.

The appeals court said that since the FCC reclassified internet services in 2017 as more lightly regulated information services, the commission "no longer has the authority to regulate in the same manner that it had when these services were classified as telecommunications services."

Days after Biden took office, the U.S. Justice Department withdrew its Trump-era legal challenge to California's state net neutrality law.

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[–] storksforlegs@beehaw.org 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All I remember about the net neutrality policy of Trump was Ajit Pai using a giant stupid mug at the hearings, and thats the only thing everyone talked about. (So I guess well played, assholes)

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 year ago

All I remembered is that after they abolished it with a giant smile, all the US states started to implement their own version.

The ISP reason to abolish it was because net neutrality has too many rules to keep track of. Well now they can maintain 50 different rules, lol.

[–] JWBananas@startrek.website 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I want to preface this by saying I am genuinely asking. I did a bunch of searching and only found articles about what may or what could...

But can anyone name concrete examples of what actually did change for them after the end of net neutrality?

Again, I am genuinely asking. I support net neutrality. But I cannot recall any way that the repeal actually affected me personally.

Please share your stories.

[–] admiralteal@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A lot of ISPs were already dodging the old, weak rules anyway out of an abundance of caution. Instead of doing any direct pay-for-play, they started doing other policies that sounded pro consumer but lead inevitably to the same non-netural, corporate-controlled world.

For example, T-Mobile favoring huge video streaming platforms over smaller competition by exempting the big boys from data caps. An act of profound, malicious evil that did more to end the idea of neutral networks than ANY lobbying could have, and which most people still think of as totally fine. I'm also pretty sure that predated Ajit Pai.

I think this is whole question is a great example of when the industry genuinely would prefer clear rules and has been quite nervous to act absent clear rules. The unstable nature of neutral network policy at a high level meant the entire zone was a bit of a minefield, so they've been very cautious about dipping toes.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 year ago

Most states implemented their own version of Net Neutrality, so to them not much changed.

[–] ThemboMcBembo@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Immediately after, every single ISP in my area introduced "data caps". If I use more than 1TB of total data in a month, they charge exorbitant fees. Fortunately, you can pay to remove these caps! ...for nearly twice the monthly price.

[–] JWBananas@startrek.website 3 points 1 year ago

Net neutrality would not control that

[–] vlad76@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do, or do not. There is no try.

[–] BarryZuckerkorn@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago

Commissioner Anna Gomez was sworn in yesterday. Up until then, the FCC has been deadlocked 2-2 between Democrats and Republicans, so the FCC has been unable to push net neutrality.

They just announced that with their 3-2 majority, one of their top priorities is to get Net Neutrality regs passed. This is an important step, announced like literally the first day they've had control of the commission.

[–] Endorkend@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Imho this is utterly irrelevant as long as this can be changed as simply as the head of state changing.

[–] n2burns@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I disagree.

  1. Even if this change is only temporary, it still improves things for that time.
  2. Businesses don't like having to change back and forth based on Federal policy. Even if congress can't pass net neutrality, many businesses will give up if they have to adjust every 4-8 years.

While imperfect, it's far from irrelevant.

[–] Endorkend@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Businesses don’t like having to change back and forth based on Federal policy. Even if congress can’t pass net neutrality, many businesses will give up if they have to adjust every 4-8 years.

So you agree ...

[–] n2burns@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think I'm agreeing. I was saying many businesses will give up and just follow net neutrality all the time, instead of changing constantly with new regulations.

[–] Endorkend@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Corporations will not follow net neutrality until they have to and they will change back to not following net neutrality the second they think they can while they'll drag out the implementation of net neutrality rules in court as long as they can in the hopes they get canceled first.

What planet do you live on where any corporation will ever do the good thing when they aren't forced to do so.

[–] n2burns@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

I live on the planet where corporations will do the right thing when it's cheaper. Making drastic changes to infrastructure every 4-8 years isn't cheap, and some (though not all) will decide it's not worth the hassle and bad publicity.

[–] JWBananas@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago

Even if this change is only temporary, it still improves things for that time.

That could very well not be the case. Major policy changes like these require a lot of preparation and are often scheduled to actually take effect on a far future date. So it could end up getting reverted again before it even happens.

[–] Haus@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Jessica went nuclear when they did that. It was inspirational and the FCC's website got the "hug of death" for at least hours.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 1 year ago

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles:

Click here to see the summaryWASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel plans to begin an effort to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules rescinded under then-President Donald Trump, sources briefed on the matter said Monday.

The move comes after Democrats took majority control of the five-member FCC on Monday for the first time since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021 when new FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez was sworn in.

The FCC is set to take an initial vote on the net neutrality proposal in October, the sources added.

In July 2021, Biden signed an executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate net neutrality rules adopted under Democratic then-President Barack Obama in 2015.

Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that the 2017 decision by the FCC to reverse federal net neutrality protections could not bar state action, rejecting a challenge from telecom and broad industry groups to block California's net neutrality law.

Days after Biden took office, the U.S. Justice Department withdrew its Trump-era legal challenge to California's state net neutrality law.

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