Network Neutrality

Democratic Reps used a House Communications Subcommittee markup of a pirate radio bill to express their opposition to the Federal Communications Commission's rollback of network neutrality rules. Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA) introduced an amendment to the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (PIRATE) Act (HR 5709) that would have replaced the base bill with one that would restore the net neutrality rules just jettisoned.

The dissolution of net neutrality regulations and the AT&T/Time Warner decision could shape the internet for years to come. 

California’s network neutrality bill, SB 822, is often referred to as the “gold standard” of state-based net neutrality laws. The bill tackles the full array of issues the Federal Communications Commission had addressed right up until the end of 2016 before it began repealing net neutrality. One such issue is the discriminatory use of zero rating, where Internet service providers could choose to give users access to certain content for “free”—that is, without digging into their data plans.

I would like to explore three rather divergent policy issues, unified by my views on what I see as being in the best interests of American consumers.

The repeal of federal network neutrality rules became official June 11, giving broadband providers the right to block or throttle Internet traffic or to prioritize traffic in exchange for payment. But at least for now, some major ISPs are saying they won't do any of those things. The Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T websites all say they aren't doing any blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization.

When Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai decided to do away with the widely popular “network neutrality” rules that governed the Internet, his justification was that the regulations were slowing deployment. But a new analysis by the Center for Public Integrity plus other factors cited by industry experts show that reasoning to be shallow at best and ridiculous at worst.

Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) called on the Federal Communications Commission to share more information about the reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the FCC’s website while it was open for comments on net neutrality in 2017.

House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA) vowed to keep fighting to nullify the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules rollback, but in outlining the road ahead, he also put a spotlight on the up-Hill battle. "Americans lost an important right today when the FCC’s order nullifying the federal Net Neutrality policy went into effect,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is blaming congressional Republicans for the repeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality rules.