As US Junks "Net Neutrality", How It Affects Internet In India: 10 Points II US regulator orders rollback of ‘net neutrality’ rules II US regulators rollback net neutrality rules
WASHINGTON: US regulators today voted to rollback "net neutrality" rules that require internet providers to treat all traffic equally.
The Federal Communications Commission, in a 3-2 vote, adopted a proposal by Republican appointed chairman Indian- American Ajit Pai.
The critics say the move is against the interest of the consumers and favours big corporate companies.
By doing so, the Republican-majority commission has reversed the 2015 "net-neutrality" ruled of the previous Obama Administration, which mandated upon all internet service providers to treat all traffic equally, without blocking or showing content.
The decision restores the longstanding, bipartisan light-touch regulatory framework that has fostered rapid Internet growth, openness, and freedom for nearly 20 years, the FCC said in a statement after the voting.
Following detailed legal and economic analysis, as well as extensive examination of comments from consumers and stakeholders, the Commission reversed the FCC's 2015 heavy- handed utility-style regulation of broadband Internet access service, which imposed substantial costs on the entire Internet ecosystem, it said.
In place of that heavy-handed framework, the FCC is returning to the traditional light-touch framework that was in place until 2015, it asserted.
Moreover, the FCC also adopted robust transparency requirements that will empower consumers as well as facilitate effective government oversight of broadband providers' conduct, it said.
"In particular, the FCC's action has restored the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission to act when broadband providers engage in anticompetitive, unfair, or deceptive acts or practices," the federal commission said.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi described Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said FCC's radical, partisan decision to dismantle net neutrality "strikes a stunning blow" to the promise of a free and open Internet.
"With this unjustified and blatant giveaway to big providers, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is proving himself an eager executor of the Trump Administration's anti-consumer, anti- competition agenda," she said.
Pelosi alleged that FCC's rule change process was marked by haste, secrecy and technical flaws from the start.
"This arbitrary decision was made without a single public hearing and over the firm opposition of Internet experts and technologists," she said.
"It is deeply disturbing that Pai's FCC has refused to take action to combat the threat of identity theft and fake comments in the agency record, and has refused to comply with FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests or requests for information from the New York Attorney General's Investigation," Pelosi said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed the decision.
"Despite its unassuming name, the Obama administration's net neutrality regulation threatens the free and open internet that has done so much to advance modern society," he said.
The Trump administration's action to roll back this egregious government overreach into the most innovative space will benefit all users of the internet, he said.
As Chairman Pai outlined today, the way to protect consumers is to put the Federal Trade Commission back on the beat to crack down on those who would abuse open access. This new plan of action will open new avenues for telemedicine, distance learning, and future innovations, Ryan said
The Federal Communications Commission, in a 3-2 vote, adopted a proposal by Republican appointed chairman Indian- American Ajit Pai.
The critics say the move is against the interest of the consumers and favours big corporate companies.
By doing so, the Republican-majority commission has reversed the 2015 "net-neutrality" ruled of the previous Obama Administration, which mandated upon all internet service providers to treat all traffic equally, without blocking or showing content.
The decision restores the longstanding, bipartisan light-touch regulatory framework that has fostered rapid Internet growth, openness, and freedom for nearly 20 years, the FCC said in a statement after the voting.
Following detailed legal and economic analysis, as well as extensive examination of comments from consumers and stakeholders, the Commission reversed the FCC's 2015 heavy- handed utility-style regulation of broadband Internet access service, which imposed substantial costs on the entire Internet ecosystem, it said.
In place of that heavy-handed framework, the FCC is returning to the traditional light-touch framework that was in place until 2015, it asserted.
Moreover, the FCC also adopted robust transparency requirements that will empower consumers as well as facilitate effective government oversight of broadband providers' conduct, it said.
"In particular, the FCC's action has restored the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission to act when broadband providers engage in anticompetitive, unfair, or deceptive acts or practices," the federal commission said.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi described Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said FCC's radical, partisan decision to dismantle net neutrality "strikes a stunning blow" to the promise of a free and open Internet.
"With this unjustified and blatant giveaway to big providers, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is proving himself an eager executor of the Trump Administration's anti-consumer, anti- competition agenda," she said.
Pelosi alleged that FCC's rule change process was marked by haste, secrecy and technical flaws from the start.
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"This arbitrary decision was made without a single public hearing and over the firm opposition of Internet experts and technologists," she said.
"It is deeply disturbing that Pai's FCC has refused to take action to combat the threat of identity theft and fake comments in the agency record, and has refused to comply with FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests or requests for information from the New York Attorney General's Investigation," Pelosi said.
House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed the decision.
"Despite its unassuming name, the Obama administration's net neutrality regulation threatens the free and open internet that has done so much to advance modern society," he said.
The Trump administration's action to roll back this egregious government overreach into the most innovative space will benefit all users of the internet, he said.
As Chairman Pai outlined today, the way to protect consumers is to put the Federal Trade Commission back on the beat to crack down on those who would abuse open access. This new plan of action will open new avenues for telemedicine, distance learning, and future innovations, Ryan said
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the Trump Administration backs the FCC's move but also supports a free and fair internet.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to repeal the net neutrality rules (Reuters)
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NEW DELHI: The US Federal Communications Commission or FCC voted on Thursday to repeal landmark 2015 rules aimed at ensuring a free and open internet, sending chilling waves across cyberspace that are likely to wash up on Indian shores too. Championed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, an Indian-American Donald Trump loyalist, the scrapping of "net neutrality" marked a victory for internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications and hands them power over what content consumers can access. Consumer advocates and trade groups representing content providers plan to legally challenge the move.
Here is your 10-point cheat-sheet on how scrapping net neutrality affects internet users in India:
- Passed in 2015 under the Obama administration, net neutrality rules prevented internet service providers or ISPs from slowing down, blocking or speeding up connections to certain websites (ostensibly ones that would pay these carriers).
- The rules echoed the principle that every website should enjoy equal access and speed and no deep-pocketed company could stifle the growth of its upstart competitor.
- Internet service providers say they will not block or throttle legal content but that they may engage in paid prioritisation. They say consumers will see no change and argue that the largely unregulated internet functioned well in the two decades before the 2015 order.
- Mr Pai, a conservative who exalts the Republican Party virtues of free market and minimal regulation, says net neutrality aims to solve a problem that does not exist.
- "The internet wasn't broken in 2015. We weren't living in a digital dystopia. To the contrary, the internet is perhaps the one thing in American society we can all agree has been a stunning success," Mr Pai said on Thursday.
- Even though the US regulator does not hold direct a sway over how internet users access the internet in India, the web being much more borderless than financial or commodity markets, experts say, the move is certain to have ripple effects in other countries.
- A common example provided by net neutrality advocates is this: If net neutrality would have been abandoned about 10 years ago, a website like MySpace or Orkut could have paid American service providers to ensure their websites worked much faster than Facebook, thus stalling its growth and eventual expansion to other markets like India.
- In a far-fetched but even scarier version, a rogue carrier could well have blocked access to Facebook altogether unless it paid up.
- Today, that risk looms over websites like Vimeo (a smaller competitor of YouTube) or Reddit (a much more niche social network compared to Facebook). If these or any other similar websites are choked in the US, they are likely to wilt for users in India too.
- The scrapping of the net neutrality rules in the US also sets a dangerous precedent for other countries like India where emboldened regulators could pursue similar routes (though in fairness, India's TRAI only last month publicly declared it did not favour any discrimination on the internet).
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(With inputs from Reuters)
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