Trump administration’s FCC is aiming to put an end to net neutrality once and for all. According to a report from Bloomberg, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is planning a vote to kill net neutrality rules once and for all. The Obama-era rules demanded fair treatment of web traffic, among other things.
Traditionally, we’ve seen Democrats and technology companies support net neutrality rules while Republicans and broadband providers have been working to eliminate the rules all together.
First proposed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, the handpicked candidate by President Donald Trump, said this past April that he plans to gut the net neutrality rules. This caused a huge uproar from the public. The FCC so far has gotten more than 22 million comments on this matter.
Pai is now seeking to to bring a vote in December, two people stated on this matter and asked not to be identified because the matter has not been publicly disclosed yet. With Republican majority in power, it’s likely that Pai will win a vote on whatever he wants to do regarding net neutrality rules. People close to the matter said that Pai will vacate the rules except for those portions that mandate internet service providers disclose their practices to customers.
Broadband provides have stated that the net neutrality rules are unnecessary and aren’t needed. The biggest complaint they have against the rules is that they discourage investment because companies are subject to more complex regulations. Comcast even asked FCC to block states from enforcing new rules on them.
Democrats and technology companies say that these rules are needed to maintain a balance and to make sure that broadband providers don’t favor business partners or harm rivaling companies.
