Net Neutrality Reactions

Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen -- The FCC’s action today restored the FTC’s ability to protect consumers and competition throughout the Internet ecosystem. The FTC is ready to resume its role as the cop on the broadband beat, where it has vigorously protected the privacy and security of consumer data and challenged broadband providers who failed to live up to their promises to consumers. 

FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny -- The Federal Trade Commission will not be able to fill the gap created by the FCC’s abdication of its authority and sector-specific mandate. After-the-fact antitrust and consumer protection enforcement by the FTC cannot substitute for clear upfront rules, especially given that vertically integrated broadband ISPs have both the incentive and ability to favor their own content or that of paid “partners” over the content of rivals.

Free Press: Today's FCC Ruling Will Not Stand -- Free Press will take the FCC to court to challenge its reversal on the proper definition of broadband, the accuracy of its contentious justifications for tossing out the rules, and the many process fouls that have plagued the FCC proceeding since it began earlier this year.

Public Knowledge: FCC Abandons Consumer Protection Responsibility With Net Neutrality Repeal -- Today’s vote is an unprecedented abdication of responsibility by the FCC to protect free expression online and to promote a free market for innovation.

Consumers Union: FCC Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules a “Big Loss for Consumers” -- This is a big loss for consumers, and it will inevitably take the battle over net neutrality back to the courtroom and Congress. 

Common Cause Special Advisor Michael Copps -- Donald Trump's Chairman, Ajit Pai, has recklessly ignored the tens of millions of Americans who know that affordable access to the Open Internet is essential to life in the 21st century. Today's vote is a body blow for self-expression and self-governance. And the tainted process of ignoring tens of thousands of consumer net neutrality complaints makes the FCC action illegitimate. Simply put, this is the worst decision in the history of the Federal Communications Commission.

Engine -- The Federal Communications Commission voted today to strip the critical protections that made the Internet a level playing field for startups. With its rushed, party-line decision to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, the Commission is ignoring the pleas of innovators, investors, and everyday users to keep the Internet free and open.

New America’s Open Technology Institute -- Today the FCC chose to side with the biggest internet service providers while ignoring sustained public outcry from consumers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, advocates, and engineers. In a radical move that breaks from more than a decade of bipartisan precedent, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has completely abdicated the FCC’s role in defending the principles of an open internet. 

Barbara van Schewick -- Today’s FCC vote eliminates all net neutrality protections without a replacement. The order leaves both the FCC and the states powerless to protect consumers and businesses against net neutrality violations by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon that connect us to the Internet. The order is a radical departure from decades of careful work by FCC chairs of both political parties, who recognized and acted against the danger ISPs posed to the free markets that rose out of and depend on the Internet. 

USTelecom -- Today, the future of our open, thriving internet has been secured. The nation’s top consumer protection agency now has jurisdiction over fairness and neutrality across the internet, ensuring consistent rules apply to all players, including the most powerful online companies. And America’s broadband providers – who have long supported net neutrality protections and have committed to continuing to do so – will have renewed confidence to make the investments required to strengthen the nation’s networks and close the digital divide, especially in rural communities. It’s a great day for consumers and our innovation economy.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association -- We cannot reach for the future with regulation from the distant past. Title II and its accompanying regulatory uncertainty deters the innovation and investment needed to build the next generation of broadband and bring its benefits to all Americans. We fully support Chairman Pai and the Commission’s action today. However, we continue to believe that legislation which protects the open internet, while preserving incentives for an ever-improving network is essential. We urge Congress to craft legislation that settles this decade-long debate and permanently enshrines open internet protections into law while ushering in a new era of connectivity for American consumers.

CTIA -- CTIA and our member companies support the open internet. Chairman Pai and the Commission are right to restore the long-standing regulatory framework that allowed the internet to grow and flourish. Today’s decision will help wireless providers deliver the mobile wireless broadband experience that consumers will demand tomorrow.

AT&T -- For more than a decade, under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, AT&T has consistently made clear that we provide broadband service in an open and transparent way.  We do not block websites, nor censor online content, nor throttle or degrade traffic based on the content, nor unfairly discriminate in our treatment of internet traffic. These principles, which were laid out in the FCC’s 2010 Open Internet Order and fully supported by AT&T, are clearly articulated on our website and are fully enforceable against us.  In short, the internet will continue to work tomorrow just as it always has.  Despite the existence and the enforceability of all of these commitments, we have, since 2010, also repeatedly called for a non-Title II legislative solution that would make these consumer protections permanent. We continue to support a legislative solution and will work with any interested members of Congress to achieve that solution.

Net neutrality is repealed, and critics are very angry with the FCC (USA Today)

Activists Decry FCC Vote as Existential ‘Net Threat (Broadcasting&Cable)

What tech companies are saying about the repeal of net neutrality rules (Marketplace)

Netflix rips net neutrality repeal: ‘This is the beginning of a longer legal battle’ (The Hill)

Rule Rollback Fans Applaud FCC Move (Multichannel News)