The FCC votes to end Net Neutrality laws that were made two years ago

net neutrality

This is bad.

In a 3-2 vote held on Dec. 14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ruled against the net neutrality rules that were put in place two years ago.

These rules (which are very long and complicated to read, but we’ll do our best to break it down) were set during the Obama Administration and prevented internet providers from blocking traffic and altering loading speeds by offering paid users faster service. They also classified internet providers as common carriers, making sure there was strong legal backing behind them.

Now, bypassing the “Restoring Internet Freedom” order, these rules are no longer in effect. Essentially, the FCC is no longer serving as a regulator over the internet, instead of giving it to the FTC.

The FTC, then, is all about trade (via Tech Crunch). While the FTC aims to keep companies in line with antitrust and merger investigations, they will be unable to make rules to regulate net neutrality like the ones the FCC set in place.

Basically, the freedom of using the internet is in trouble here. The new rules, for the most part, don’t restrict internet providers from doing as they please. The only requirement, according to The Verge, is that they publicly state what they're doing.

Chairman Ajit Pai and Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Michael O'Reilly were the ones to vote in favor of the order. Democratic Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel voted against it.

“I dissent from this fiercely spun, legally lightweight, consumer-harming, corporate-enabling Destroying Internet Freedom Order,” Commissioner Clyburn said via Tech Crunch. “There is a basic fallacy underlying the majority’s actions and rhetoric today: the assumption of what is best for broadband providers is best for America. What saddens me is that the agency that is supposed to protect you is abandoning you. But what I am pleased to say is that the fight to save net neutrality does not end today. This agency does not have the final word. Thank goodness.”

Following this vote is an inevitable lawsuit, suggesting that all hope is not lost. The District of Columbia Circuit Court has twice denied net neutrality regulations in the past, meaning they could very well do it again. The commission is allowed to change its mind and un-do the order, but they aren’t allowed to do so for “arbitrary and capricious” reasons according to The Verge.

“I dissent from this rash decision to roll back net neutrality rules,” Commissioner Rosenworcel said via Tech Crunch. “I dissent from the corrupt process that has brought us to this point. And I dissent from the contempt this agency has shown our citizens in pursuing this path today. This decision puts the Federal Communications Commission on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the American public.”

The effects of the order will not take place immediately, but rather — should they go unchallenged — begin sometime early next year as they first have to be entered in the federal register.

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