The Federal Communications Commission repealed the Obama-era “net neutrality” rules Thursday, giving internet service providers like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T a free hand to slow or block websites and apps as they see fit or charge more for faster speeds.
In a straight party-line vote of 3-2, the Republican-controlled FCC junked the long-time principle that said all web traffic must be treated equally. The move represents a radical departure from a decade of federal oversight.
In recent months, protests have erupted online and in the streets as ordinary Americans worry that cable and phone companies will now be able to control what people see and do online. On Thursday, about 60 protesters gathered in the bitter chill in Washington to protest the FCC’s expected decision.
The broadband industry has promised that the internet experience for the public isn’t going to change. But its companies lobbied hard to overturn the rules, contending they are too heavy-handed and are discouraging investment in broadband networks.
“What is the FCC doing today?” asked FCC chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican. “Quite simply, we are restoring the light-touch framework that has governed the internet for most of its existence.”
The FCC vote is unlikely to be the last word. Opponents of the move plan legal challenges, and some hope to make it an issue in the 2018 midterm elections. There is also some hope that Congress might overturn the FCC decision.
Mark Stanley, a spokesman for the civil liberties organization Demand Progress, said there is a “good chance” Congress could reverse it.
“The fact that Chairman Pai went through with this, a policy that is so unpopular, is somewhat shocking,” he said. “Unfortunately, not surprising.”
Under the new rules, the Comcasts and AT&Ts of the world will be free to block rival apps, slow down competing services or offer faster speeds to companies that pay up. They just have to post their policies online or tell the FCC.
The change also eliminates certain federal consumer protections, bars state laws that contradict the FCC’s approach, and largely transfers oversight of internet service to another agency altogether, the Federal Trade Commission.
The FCC's decision does not impact Canadians, though CJAD 800's tech expert Carmi Levy suggests we should be watching what happens south of the border very closely. For instance, Canada's telecommunications policies are set to be reviewed next year.
For the moment, the CTRC is very much in favor of the principle of net neutrality, and will likely be for some time — but as always, things that happen in the U.S. may end up happening in Canada, in one way or another.
"What could happen in Canada might mirror what happens in the U.S.," Levy says. "In the U.S., telecommunications companies and internet service providers have been pushing them for years to loosen the net neutrality rulebook to allow them to decide what gets priority treatment and what doesn't. They say that net neutrality hinders their ability to make money, it hinders their ability to deliver services to market, and it makes services more expensive than they should be."
Levy says it's unlikely some of the apocalyptic visions of some of the defenders of net neutrality will ever come to pass — however, he says there's a strong possibility that somewhere down the road, internet services could wind up offering different kinds of service packages, similar to cable TV packages.
"The sky is not falling. This is not end of days. But going forward, there is a much more likely chance that you will spend more for your internet service, and you're going to get less in return because of it."
-CJAD 800's Richard Deschamps contributed to this report.