Rep Blackburn Fought to End Net Neutrality, But Will It Matter to Voters?

In March of 2017, Congress had just voted to allow internet service providers to sell the browser histories of consumers, a move that was greeted by an overwhelming backlash online. At the time, it seemed the browser history vote was politically poisonous for the Republican Reps who pushed it through. Yet House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who became more identified than most lawmakers with the rollback, has not only survived politically, but is reaching higher. Nov 2018, she will square off in a hotly contested Senate battle in TN against former Gov Phil Bredesen (D-TN). 

During her 15 years in the House, Rep Blackburn has been one of the most reliably active conservatives in tech policy, working to shape several high-profile debates around issues like network neutrality and consumer privacy. She had tried repeatedly, over years, to preempt net neutrality rules by passing legislation. In late 2017, after the Federal Communications Commission moved to repeal protections, Chairman Blackburn introduced a bill that would have instituted some rules, while enshrining the right of internet service providers to give preferential treatment to certain internet traffic. The legislation was quickly derided by activists as a “fake” net neutrality bill that was a backdoor attempt to undermine protections. Her attempt to bring back some of the internet privacy rules she’d helped gut, while also blocking state regulations, was met with similar skepticism. Like President Donald Trump, she has also built a foil out of Silicon Valley, which she has accused of being filled with liberal censors. While she already wields power over the tech landscape, her influence would grow with a move to the Senate. Before she gets there, her race against the net neutrality-supporting Bredesen will test the ability of tech policy questions to sway voters, and Silicon Valley’s appeal as a villain for the right.