Net Neutrality Rollback Takes Next Step to Implementation

The Federal Communications Commission has taken the next step toward instituting its network neutrality rollback. On March 27, the FCC signaled it has submitted the enhanced information-collection portion of the Restoring Internet Freedom Order to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), according to the Federal Register, which plans to publish that OMB submission March 28 -- starting a 30-day comment period to the OMB. 

The rollback of the internet regulations -- which was approved by a divided FCC on Dec 14, 2017 -- can't take effect until the OMB gets comment on that information collection, approves it, and the FCC then sets a date for the rules to go into effect. OMB has to review any new information-collection obligations in regulations per the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), to ensure they do not overly burden those regulated entities. While rules can go into effect before the PRA review is completed, that is not the case with the FCC's elimination of the rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. That is because enforcement of network neutrality without those ex ante (before the fact) prohibitions depends on Internet service providers disclosing exactly how they are operating per enhanced transparency provisions, so that the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department can decide whether that is unfair or deceptive or anticompetitive.