DC Stakeholders Square Off Over Net Neutrality Bill Markup

Reaction was swift to the House Communications Subcommittee's referral of the Save the Internet Act to the full House Commerce Committee, the first step in its likely passage by the House. NCTA-The Internet & Television Association said, “With today’s action, the subcommittee has stubbornly insisted on a partisan path that leads to a dead end. The result of allergically resisting a bipartisan approach to resolving this decades-old issue is that consumers will fail to receive the net neutrality protections that are generally accepted and industry will not get the certainty it needs to invest more boldly...There is a real path to bipartisan compromise on a set of strong, enforceable net neutrality rules, but any approach is doomed that insists on bolting on expansive powers that allow the government to control and regulate the internet more broadly. Congress does not need Title II in order to adopt strong rules that survive judicial review, as the Commission arguably did."

But there were plenty of net neutrality activists who saw the path leading to restored consumer protections from ISPs abuses. “Free Press Action thanks the Communications and Technology Subcommittee for passing the Save the Internet Act, and taking the first step toward restoring Net Neutrality and other vital broadband protections," said campaign director Candace Clement. "People need strong Net Neutrality rules to protect their online civil rights, and that’s exactly what this bill delivers." “Today's vote by the Subcommittee to approve the Save the Internet Act is a critical step for Congress to restore strong net neutrality consumer protections," said Public Knowledge senior policy counsel Phillip Berenbroick. "Members of the Subcommittee have carefully weighed the issues and listened to the more than 80 percent of Americans who consistently say they support restoring the protections the FCC adopted in the 2015 Open Internet Order."