Network Neutrality

On May 7, 2017, the Home Box Office (HBO) program “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” aired a segment in which the host John Oliver discussed the Federal Communications Commission’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” (RIF) proceeding and encouraged viewers to visit the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) and file comments.

The Federal Communications Commission has already repealed net neutrality, but the Trump administration can't leave it there. It also wants the Supreme Court to remove a ruling that upheld the controversial Obama-era rules. Is this a big deal? It depends on who you ask. While the request is somewhat unusual, not many cases upholding government regulation are followed by a repeal of that regulation, some legal experts say remanding the decision is just a bit of legal housecleaning. But net neutrality supporters disagree.

Charles "Chip" Pickering, a conservative Republican former member of Congress and CEO of a telecommunications-industry group called Incompas, supports net neutrality. Under Pickering's leadership, Incompas has been a steadfast defender of 2015 rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission that ban broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon from blocking or discriminating against lawful content. That’s placed it at odds with other industry groups working to undermine efforts to mandate net neutrality.Incompas  itself is something of a paradox.

The Inspector General Report tells us what we knew all along: the FCC’s claim that it was the victim of a DDoS attack during the net neutrality proceeding is bogus. What happened instead is obvious—millions of Americans overwhelmed our online system because they wanted to tell us how important internet openness is to them and how distressed they were to see the FCC roll back their rights. It’s unfortunate that this agency’s energy and resources needed to be spent debunking this implausible claim.

The Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission requested that the Supreme Court vacate a 2016 appeals court decision upholding net neutrality rules adopted by the FCC in 2015. If the court decides to grant the motion, the previous decision to support the rules would be removed, clearing the path for re-litigation in the future when it comes to classifying broadband. If the DOJ and FCC’s request is approved by the court, the previous rules, spearheaded by then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, would be voided from the judicial record.

Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) hosted an invite-only roundtable discussion, hoping to gather stakeholder input on how to best address efforts to maintain an appropriately open internet system. "We tried to get every position represented in the room," said Rep. Curtis. "We had (internet service providers), edge providers and both large and small tech businesses.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has set briefing deadlines in the challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality repeal. Mozilla, state attorneys general and other groups fighting the FCC’s rollback will file their arguments Aug. 20. The Internet Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association and other organizations bolstering their case will file Aug. 27. The FCC has to respond Oct. 11, and the telecom associations backing the agency, including CTIA and USTelecom, will file their briefs Oct. 18. Final briefs in the case are due Nov. 27.

Data traffic prioritization is one of the most unfairly maligned technologies. Caricaturing commonplace network management techniques as “fast lanes,” net neutrality activists warn that introducing the option of paying for specific performance levels of Internet traffic will destroy the characteristic “openness” of the web. This is false.

Voters across four key battleground Congressional districts (CA-25, CO-06, FL-18, NY-19) overwhelmingly support net neutrality and want their member of Congress to force a vote to overturn the FCC and restore net neutrality protections. Support for net neutrality is broad and bipartisan, and moves independents and undecided voters toward a member of Congress willing to take immediate action. Furthermore, a majority of independents and undecideds in the battleground districts tested say net neutrality will be an important factor in determining their vote in the midterm election

Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) won’t be the second Republican to support Democrats’ Congressional Review Act effort to revive Obama-era net neutrality rules, a Young spokeswoman confirmed. Fight for the Future relayed an Alaskan business owner’s account of Rep Young privately pledging, she said, to sign the Democrats’ discharge petition to force a CRA floor vote. Rep.