Republican FCC moves to end Obama-era net neutrality rules

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Apparently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will reveal plans to his fellow commissioners on Nov 21 to fully dismantle the agency's Obama-era network neutrality regulations in a major victory for the telecom industry in the long-running policy debate. The FCC will vote on the proposal in December, some seven months after it laid the groundwork for scuttling the rules that require internet service providers like Comcast or AT&T to treat web traffic equally. Pai’s plan would jettison rules that prohibit ISPs from blocking or slowing web traffic or creating so-called paid internet fast lanes.  Chairman Pai also will follow through on his plans to scrap the legal foundation that the FCC’s old Democratic majority adopted in 2015 to tighten federal oversight of ISPs, a move he contends has deterred the industry from investing in broadband networks. Internet providers have feared that legal foundation, if left in place, could set the stage for possible government price regulation of internet service. The chairman’s approach would also get rid of the so-called general conduct standard, which gives the FCC authority to police ISP behavior it deems unreasonable. The plan includes transparency rules that would require internet service providers to inform their customers about their practices on issues such as blocking and throttling. The FCC will look to another agency, the Federal Trade Commission, to police whether internet service providers are acting in an anticompetitive manner.


Republican FCC moves to end Obama-era net neutrality rules