5 minutes with Rep Mike Doyle: on net neutrality and why a free internet matters

A Q&A with House Communmications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA).

“I believe access is a right,” Chairman Doyle says. “We shouldn’t be able to block any group of people from access to the internet.”  According to Chairman Doyle, the Save the Internet Act will not only restore net neutrality protections but will also reaffirm the power and authority of the Federal Communications Commission. “Today, nobody is enforcing any rules. There’s no cop on the beat,” Doyle explains. “Chairman Ajit Pai, when he revealed the open internet order, basically just abdicated the FCC’s authority to regulate the ISPs.” He emphasizes that “you need a cop on the beat. These rules wouldn’t have been put into place if there was never this kind of behavior on the part of ISPs. We didn’t just dream all this up.”

As with other efforts to pass similar protections, Chairman Doyle’s bill has been met with fierce resistance from Republicans in Congress. However, recent polling consistently reports that a bipartisan majority of Americans supports net neutrality. “The opponents are really just a handful of companies,” says Chairman Doyle. “Not the American people.”