Network Neutrality

Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) said he’s “hopeful” Republicans steer clear of the Congressional Review Act resolution to reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) became the first GOP lawmaker to support the measure from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has indicated that he’s considering the proposal.

Lawmakers in at least six states, including California and New York, have introduced bills in recent weeks that would forbid internet providers to block or slow down sites or online services. Legislators in several other states, including North Carolina and Illinois, are weighing similar action. They are responding to the Federal Communications Commission’s vote to end regulations that barred internet service providers from creating slow and fast lanes for different sites and services. The new policy will go into effect in the coming weeks.

I keep being asked by people “Harold, can you please summarize the last 20 years of net neutrality for me while I stand on one foot?” Usually I answer: “do not do unto other packets what you find hateful for your favorite bitstream. The rest is commentary — located at 47 C.F.R. Part 8.” I will now take you on a brief tour of the history of net neutrality at Tales of the Sausage Factory (with a few outside link additions) from my first post on the Brand X case back in 2004 to June 2016, when the DC Circuit affirmed the FCC’s 2015 Reclassification and Net Neutrality Order.

On the issue of network neutrality, Democratic Senators are planning to use the Congressional Review Act, or CRA to force a vote in Congress on the issue. Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO) became the 30th senator to get behind the measure, giving Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) enough senators to call the vote. The CRA procedure gives Congress a chance to reverse an agency decision.

Walking through the display floor aisles at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the surrounding hotels and casinos, it's easy to get swept up in the sheer number of companies that have made the pilgrimage to Sin City to provide attendees of the Consumer Electronics Show a glimpse into the future.

 Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) says the average American is not likely to be swayed in the 2018 midterms by Senate Democrats forcing a vote on reinstating the net neutrality rules. “I think they see it as a really hot political issue [that] gets their base kind of energized.

Maine Sens Angus King (I-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) said they’ll support new legislation to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s vote to scuttle Obama-era network neutrality standards.  Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) announced recently that he has enough support to force a Senate vote to invalidate the FCC’s controversial Dec. 14 decision.

[Commentary]  If you care about preserving network neutrality, the most important thing you could possibly do would be to run for political office on a platform that promises to protect the free and open internet and to roll back regulatory capture by big telecom.

Democratic senators rejoiced on Jan 9 that they had secured enough votes to force the Senate to debate whether to restore the US government’s recently repealed network neutrality rules. But their celebrations could prove short-lived on Capitol Hill, where Republicans control both chambers of Congress — and can easily scuttle any attempt to revive regulations that required internet providers to treat all web traffic equally.  In speech after speech, though, Democratic Sens mostly sidestepped those issues.

This is the year, friends.  The year when the battle for an Open Internet pits the three self-proclaimed wise men of the Federal Communications Commission against an overwhelming majority of the American people.  Every index I have seen—be it popular poll, volume of pleas to Congress, or expressions of anger toward the FCC—makes it crystal clear that we the people want an open internet and an end to ever-increasing monopoly control of our telecom and media markets.  Most Americans would agree with the great Justice Louis Brandeis: “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated i