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FCC to Regulate Internet Providers 04/26 06:28
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday voted to
restore "net neutrality" rules that prevent broadband internet providers such
as Comcast and Verizon from favoring some sites and apps over others.
The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the commission first
issued in 2015 during the Obama administration. In 2017, under then-President
Donald Trump, the FCC repealed those rules.
The measure passed Thursday on a 3-2 vote split along party lines, with
Democratic commissioners in favor and Republicans opposed.
Net neutrality effectively requires providers of internet service to treat
all traffic equally, eliminating any incentive they might face to favor
business partners or to hobble competitors. The public interest group Public
Knowledge describes net neutrality as "the principle that the company that
connects you to the internet does not get to control what you do on the
internet."
The rules, for instance, ban practices that throttle or block certain sites
or apps, or that reserve higher speeds for the services or customers willing to
pay more for them.
"In our post-pandemic world, we know that broadband is a necessity, not a
luxury," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement ahead of the
vote.
While it's been almost seven years since the FCC killed the previous net
neutrality rules, their reinstatement isn't expected to noticeably change
users' online experience. Public Knowledge legal director John Bergmayer
credits that to several states having passed their own net neutrality measures
prior to 2015, all of which remained in force when the FCC reversed course two
years later following Trump's election.
"Some of the absolute worst excesses from (internet providers) were kept in
check by state level oversight," Bergmayer said.
States like California went even further than the FCC did -- for instance,
by banning a practice called "zero rating." That's where, for instance, a
mobile provider might strike a business deal to steer users toward a particular
streaming service by zeroing out any related data charges. Other states with
strong net neutrality rules include Colorado, Maine, Oregon, Vermont and
Washington, according to Bergmayer.
The telecommunications industry opposed the reintroduction of the federal
rules, as it has before, declaring them an example of unnecessary government
interference in business decisions.
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