FCC Repeals Open Internet, Blocks States From Passing Own Regulations

At a contentious meeting Thursday morning, the FCC voted 3-2 to repeal net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from blocking or throttling traffic, and from charging higher fees for prioritized delivery.

The agency’s controversial move also prohibits states from passing or enforcing their own broadband laws — including, in the view of at least one Commissioner, privacy laws. The vote came during a session that lasted longer than 3 hours and was briefly interrupted by a security threat.

The new “Restoring Internet Freedom” order revokes the 2015 net neutrality rules, which reclassified broadband as a utility service and imposed some common carrier regulations on providers.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who dissented from the rules two years ago, reiterated Thursday that he believes they are too “heavy handed.”

He also suggested that the former net neutrality rules didn’t result in an “open” Internet, because they didn’t apply to companies like Google and Twitter, which are able to wield control over material on their platforms.
more at:  https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/311652/fcc-repeals-open-internet-blocks-states-from-pass.html