UPDATE The FCC voted to restore Net Neutrality to the internet in a party line 3-2 vote yesterday. The outcome was expected, as Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel signaled she intended to move on the issue soon after Anna Gomez was sworn in as the third Democratic Commissioner, Inside Towers reported.
Those who favor the decision said the action reclassifies broadband service as a Title II telecommunications service, specifically labeling broadband internet access as a commercial mobile service. Proponents say this enables the FCC to protect consumers, defend national security, and advance public safety.
“The last FCC threw this authority away and decided broadband needed no supervision,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during the vote, referring to the Ajit Pai-led agency. She said that’s left a patchwork of New Neutrality regulations passed by states, when really, there should be a federal law on the issue. She called the FCC “the nation’s expert on communications,” which “has the ability to act when it comes to broadband.”
Consumers, Rosenworcel said, “spoke out in droves when this agency repealed net neutrality.” She said the nation needs to ensure the internet is “fast, open, and fair.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr spoke at length about why he opposed the action, noting “The government should not regulate the internet like copper lines, a telephone monopoly. Congress never passed a law saying the internet should be heavily regulated like a utility.”
Carr and other opponents say the change isn’t necessary because ISPs are not blocking, throttling or favoring paid content. “The old justifications for Title II no longer cut it,” so the agency “throws whatever it can think up against a wall to see if anything sticks,” Carr said.
Carr said he remains “optimistic” because ”the courts will overturn this unlawful power grab.”
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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