FCC to Regulate Internet Providers     04/26 06:28

   

   SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday voted to 
restore "net neutrality" rules that prevent broadband internet providers such 
as Comcast and Verizon from favoring some sites and apps over others.

   The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the commission first 
issued in 2015 during the Obama administration. In 2017, under then-President 
Donald Trump, the FCC repealed those rules.

   The measure passed Thursday on a 3-2 vote split along party lines, with 
Democratic commissioners in favor and Republicans opposed.

   Net neutrality effectively requires providers of internet service to treat 
all traffic equally, eliminating any incentive they might face to favor 
business partners or to hobble competitors. The public interest group Public 
Knowledge describes net neutrality as "the principle that the company that 
connects you to the internet does not get to control what you do on the 
internet."

   The rules, for instance, ban practices that throttle or block certain sites 
or apps, or that reserve higher speeds for the services or customers willing to 
pay more for them.

   "In our post-pandemic world, we know that broadband is a necessity, not a 
luxury," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement ahead of the 
vote.

   While it's been almost seven years since the FCC killed the previous net 
neutrality rules, their reinstatement isn't expected to noticeably change 
users' online experience. Public Knowledge legal director John Bergmayer 
credits that to several states having passed their own net neutrality measures 
prior to 2015, all of which remained in force when the FCC reversed course two 
years later following Trump's election.

   "Some of the absolute worst excesses from (internet providers) were kept in 
check by state level oversight," Bergmayer said.

   States like California went even further than the FCC did -- for instance, 
by banning a practice called "zero rating." That's where, for instance, a 
mobile provider might strike a business deal to steer users toward a particular 
streaming service by zeroing out any related data charges. Other states with 
strong net neutrality rules include Colorado, Maine, Oregon, Vermont and 
Washington, according to Bergmayer.

   The telecommunications industry opposed the reintroduction of the federal 
rules, as it has before, declaring them an example of unnecessary government 
interference in business decisions.