Senate Commerce Committee approves net neutrality exemption bill for small providers

The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill to exempt small Internet service providers from rules included in sweeping network neutrality regulations approved in 2015. The legislation would exempt providers with 250,000 or fewer subscribers from transparency rules that are part of the regulations, which were approved by the Federal Communications Commission last February. A version of the law passed the House without objection in March.

More broadly, the rules are meant to protect net neutrality — the idea that all traffic on the web should be treated in the same way. The agency banned Internet providers from blocking or slowing certain content or providing better speeds to services that paid them. The legislation approved June 15 doesn't exempt small providers from those rules, but rather transparency measures elsewhere in the regulations.