WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission today released text of its proposal to repeal the agency’s net neutrality rules.
The FCC, with its proposal titled “Restoring Internet Freedom,” also is seeking the public to comment on eliminating regulations that in 2015 reclassified ISPs as telecommunications companies and required them to treat all traffic equally.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan under the proposal would eliminate the commission’s authority to prevent ISPs from blocking or throttling content or creating “fast lanes” that sites can buy into.
Instead, the plan seeks a “light-touch regulatory framework” by classifying broadband access as an information service.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the international nonprofit digital rights group based in San Francisco, recently said that Pai’s proposal, if approved, would leave internet users and small businesses completely at the mercy of ISPs.
“No one in the government would be able to step in to prevent abusive blocking and throttling of internet content, pay-to-play fast lanes, or privacy violations by ISPs,” the EFF said. “That in turn will be devastating for competition, innovation, and free speech. The harms of ISP discrimination and market failure were well-documented in the months-long rulemaking and millions of comments that urged the FCC to protect net neutrality in 2015.
“The new FCC seems determined to ignore the evidence and the wishes of the vast majority of the public, in order to advance the desires of some powerful ISPs. The Internet has won this fight before, and we can win it again.”
Those interested in commenting on the proposal have until Aug. 17. To comment, click here.