Yo why am I hearing about net neutrality again. I don’t follow the freaking news.
Because the FCC is planning to kill it. Or at least FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is.
Here are a few relevant points.
The proposal, put forward by the F.C.C. chairman, Ajit Pai, is a sweeping repeal of rules put in place by the Obama administration. The rules prohibited high-speed internet service providers from blocking or slowing down the delivery of websites, or charging extra fees for the best quality of streaming and other internet services for their subscribers. Those limits are central to the concept called net neutrality.
…
The proposal from Mr. Pai, a Republican, is widely expected to be approved during a Dec. 14 meeting in a 3-to-2 party line vote from the agency’s five commissioners. But some companies will probably put up a legal fight, or actions by lawmakers, to prevent it from taking hold.
The clear winners from the move would be the giant companies that provide internet access to phones and computers, which have fought for years against broadband regulations. A repeal of the rules would allow the companies to exert more control over the online experiences of American consumers.
–The New York Times
The move is one of the more significant deregulatory efforts by Republicans since President Trump took office. Ajit Pai, who was nominated to head the FCC by Trump in January, has said undoing the “net neutrality” regulations passed by his predecessor was one of his top priorities.
Those rules were passed in 2015 by a Democrat-led FCC which said it wanted to make sure all content, whether from big or small companies, would be treated equally by Internet providers.
–The Washington Post
In short, net neutrality rules treat the internet like a utility, helping to control what consumers are charged and ensuring there is no paid prioritization - where internet service providers would be free to create so-called fast and slow lanes, allowing them to choose whether to block or slow certain websites and to charge more for better quality.
…
If the rules are dismantled, it will mark a massive win for telecommunications giants, including AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast, the parent company of NBC News. The repeal could allow them to charge subscribers more money for access to certain sites and services.
–NBC News
Well he would know, seeing as how he once served as an associated general counsel at Verizon.
No conflict of interest
there I’m sure.
@patachu
Obama did nothing, he was a good actor, a cool guy but the same government remained in place.
You have some very weird ideas about what a president is capable of doing.
I mean, I’m sorry Obama was not able to single handedly solve every problem in America, but that’s not something we should expect him to be able to do. Every issue you complained about required a lot more people working on it than just him, and quite frankly there was a good portion of his presidency where the Republican majority opposed pretty much everything he tried to do. It’s one of the major reasons he had so many executive orders, the sheer unwillingness of the other side to work with him on anything.
And he did have accomplishments. Healthcare was a big one, and it still survives despite repeated attempts by Republicans to replace it with something far worse or nothing.