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- F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules
- FCC votes to repeal net neutrality rules
- "Net neutrality is the secret sauce that has made the internet awesome"
- FCC overturns net neutrality rules, but supporters pledge to continue fight
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to dismantle rules regulating the businesses that connect consumers to the internet, granting broadband companies the power to potentially reshape Americans' online experiences.
The agency scrapped the so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government will also no longer regulate high-speed internet delivery as if it were a utility, like phone service.
The action reversed the agency's 2015 decision, during the Obama administration, to have stronger oversight over broadband providers as Americans have migrated to the internet for most communications. It reflected the view of the Trump administration and the new F.C.C. chairman that unregulated business will eventually yield innovation and help the economy.
It will take weeks for the repeal to go into effect, so consumers will not see any of the potential changes right away. But the political and legal fight started immediately. Numerous Democrats on Capitol Hill called for a bill that would reestablish the rules, and several Democratic state attorneys general, including Eric T. Schneiderman of New York, said they would file a suit to stop the change.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by darnkitten on Friday December 15 2017, @06:40PM
We had local toll in our rural county several years ago, courtesy of our (monopoly) telecom provider, which served about a third of the state. We kept asking for an end to it, at least within the county (county emergency services being a toll call, etc), as well asking for better internet speeds. Nothing happened for years, so a group of residents from the various county towns got together, formed a telecommunications committee, and started inviting in other telecom providers: wireless, infrared, satellite, etc., to present on how they could provide alternatives to our telecom provider.
When people from other counties started showing up to our meetings to see what we were doing, our provider got worried. They sent out the CEO and CTO to the next meeting and promised an end to local toll, fibre-to-the-premises, tv-over-fibre, and more, if we stayed with them. Then, to show they were serious, they actually and immediately abolished local toll for all areas where they were the sole provider (which sort of put the lie to the claim that they "had to" charge the rural areas higher prices because, you know, technobabble), and started laying fibre.
Unfortunately we got complacent and the committee disbanded. The provider kept the local calls, and they did lay fibre, albeit three years after they promised (work slowed down immediately once we weren't holding their feet to the fire); but they also spun off and sold their cell division, which was the one thing they provided us that actually worked well, leading to a spiral of sell-offs, mergers and takeovers that has left us, about a decade later with four cell towers around the town, but no coverage in most of it. We also, if we have internet, have to pay an extra $95 a month for a fibre-based landline (supposedly, to contact emergency services) that stops working in the event of a power outage (which happens routinely when the power substations stop working in the middle of the night in -20 or below temperatures).
So, a mixed bag, in retrospect.