FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican and great friend of conservative Sinclair Broadcasting, announced Tuesday that the FCC plans to end net neutrality in the U.S., a 2015 rule that prohibited internet service providers from blocking, slowing down, or charging more for access to some online content.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, ironically, "How the FCC Can Save the Open Internet," Pai wrote:
This is why I’m proposing today that my colleagues at the Federal Communications Commission repeal President Obama’s heavy-handed internet regulations. Instead the FCC simply would require internet service providers to be transparent so that consumers can buy the plan that’s best for them. And entrepreneurs and other small businesses would have the technical information they need to innovate. The Federal Trade Commission would police ISPs, protect consumers and promote competition, just as it did before 2015. Instead of being flyspecked by lawyers and bureaucrats, the internet would once again thrive under engineers and entrepreneurs.
Engineers and entrepreneurs, however, largely disagree. This move, which gives a major win to companies like Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, and Charter, has been opposed by consumer advocates, the ACLU, Google, Facebook, and most Democrats. The FCC will vote on the proposal Dec. 14. Read more on this very bad idea here.
