Unfortunately, the world is at another critical juncture for Net Neutrality. My blog has had a number of these discussions over the years. Let's do all we can to keep the Internet free of controls and financial interests!
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THE END OF NET
NEUTRALITY MAY BEGIN IN JUNE OF 2017
White House transition
team appointments could reverse the FCC’s Open Internet Order of 2015
Network World | Nov 22,
2016 11:47 AM PT
The end of net neutrality may begin in June of
2017
Trump appoints critics
of net neutrality rules to FCC transition team
The Open Internet Order
protects an open internet, preventing ISPs from charging extra fees for
connecting internet services such as Netflix or the next innovative startup to
consumers. This would bring higher prices to Netflix customers or create a
barrier to startups entering the market with an innovative new service, like
all the voice, video and messaging communications consumers use for free. The
FCC approved the Open Internet Order (pdf) in 2015 in a sharply divided,
partisan vote. Democratic commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn
voted for it, and Republican commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly voted
against it. Chairman Thomas Wheeler cast the deciding vote. The FCC chairman
and commissioners are appointed by the President. Rosenworcel’s term ends in
June of 2017, and based on the direction of Trump’s appointments, a Republican
in favor of overturning the net neutrality order will be appointed. Pai’s term
ends then, too, but it seems likely that he will be reappointed or a
like-minded person will be appointed, shifting a vote on future rulemaking
against net neutrality. For the time being, Chairman Wheeler can moderate and
perhaps slow any rulemaking to implement legislation passed by a Republican
Congress. But when Wheeler's successor is appointed to replace him in June of
2018, the incoming chairman will be able to fast-track the direction of the FCC
implementation of past and new legislation passed by a Republican majority.
How FCC regulations are
created
Telecommunications
policy making is a dry subject, boring enough to make watching paint dry seem
exciting. In a nutshell:
•Each time Congress
enacts a law affecting telecommunications, the FCC develops rules to implement
the law.
•After that, a Notice of
Inquiry (NOI) is issued by the FCC for fact gathering that will be summarized
for public comment. The FCC’s website crashed after comedian John Oliver’s
impassioned speech in favor of net neutrality when the NOI was opened for
public comment.
•The FCC drafts the rule
changes in a document called a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and makes
it available for public comment.
•After commentary and
revision, the NPRM becomes a Report & Order (R&O) of the rule. Changes
are finalized, and the commission votes on its adoption. That’s what happened
with the divisive Open Internet Order.
•The well-funded
telecommunications industry can appeal the R&O in court.
Paint dries much faster
than congressional legislation become FCC rules.
The Open Internet Order
is rooted in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, specifically §706, which was
interpreted to mean that the FCC had the power to promote competitive broadband
speeds throughout the country through a process of enquiry and investigation
and apply remedies where it found that the deployment of advanced
telecommunications capabilities to all Americans, in particular elementary and
secondary schools and classrooms, were not reasonable and timely.
When the FCC found a
disparity in reasonableness and timeliness of infrastructure deployment, under
§706 it could create incentives with price caps or it could take measures that
promote competition in the local telecommunications market—or other regulating
methods that remove barriers to infrastructure investment.
To put this in
perspective, after the FCC published its Sixth Broadband Deployment Report in
2010, the FCC adopted a new threshold for broadband speeds that it would
measure ISPs’ deployment to be reasonable and timely. The prior threshold was a
snail-slow 1Mbps download and 200Kbps upload speed. The FCC raised the
threshold to 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload speed. Today the threshold stands
at 25Mbps/3Mbps.
Verizon challenged the
FCC order
Verizon appealed to
United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In Verizon
v. the FCC, Verizon challenged the FCC’s order and opposed the FCC’s powers to
regulate ISPs that did not comply with the new and snail-slow threshold. In 2014,
the FCC won. The court confirmed that in the absence of compliance to the new
thresholds, the FCC could regulate them. Comcast had failed to make a similar
case before Verizon’s appeal.
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