{"id":14633,"date":"2017-05-25T20:39:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-26T00:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/uncategorized\/the-fcc-is-trying-to-kill-the-open-internet-what-that-means-and-how-to-stop-it\/"},"modified":"2017-05-25T20:39:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T00:39:00","slug":"the-fcc-is-trying-to-kill-the-open-internet-what-that-means-and-how-to-stop-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/the-fcc-is-trying-to-kill-the-open-internet-what-that-means-and-how-to-stop-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The FCC is Trying to Kill The Open Internet \u2013 What That Means and How to Stop It"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post, by Public Knowledge Associate Counsel Kate Forscey, was originally published on GoldenFrog.com<\/a>. Join the July 12th Day of Action at www.battleforthenet.com\/july12<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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It’s safe to say we are most of us in an era of unpredictability. Take comfort, then, in this case study in predictability, for at the very least, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has so far been everything and done everything you could expect from someone who vowed to “take a weed whacker” to the open Internet. Since his ascension, Pai’s agenda has been one of systematic rollback of consumer safeguards, one by one by one<\/a>, and the latest and greatest commenced at last Thursday’s Open Meeting vote to dismantle critical net neutrality protections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Net neutrality is the concept that you pay for Internet service and then get to use it to access whatever you want without your ISP getting to pick and choose what you do or say online. You control your experience, not Comcast or Verizon. ISPs don’t like that – they want to make money playing favorites with some services or degrading their competitors. This tends to disadvantage smaller start-ups and traditionally marginalized voices in favor of the big guys who can pay the most money for special treatment.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging this proclivity of our beloved providers, the FCC in 2015 wrote rules saying that ISPs couldn’t abuse their control over the consumer access bottleneck, utilizing the most solid legal underpinning at their disposal, Title II. It was a big deal – innovators and the Internet were protected, consumers cheered, and the courts approved the FCC’s work in the face of ISP attacks. Now, Pai wants to take all of that away, wresting control of consumers’ and creators’ internet experience from them and giving it instead to dominant, often-noncompetitive ISPs.<\/p>\n

Pai remarked shortly after his elevation to Chairman that “net neutrality’s days are numbered.” Chairman Pai has expressed no interest in taking the mantle of Chairman and engaging with consumers and the entire Internet community to see how the existing rules can best be applied to further the Commission’s statutory duty to promote access for all Americans. Instead, he is doggedly pursuing policies that prioritize deregulation, even at the expense of his own agency’s authority, integrity, and consumer protection bonafides. If he is successful, he will fundamentally alter the Internet, creating a system of tiered access for haves and have-nots similar to what we see in the pay-TV industry today.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, we don’t have to stand for it<\/strong>. Thursday was simply the beginning of the rulemaking process, which can evolve a lot over time. In fact, this iteration of Net Neutrality proceeding (#NN2017!) has already seen millions <\/em>of comments. And it’s not just you and I. Hundreds of public interest groups oppose this proceeding. Over a thousand<\/em> start-ups<\/a> (think: “the ‘next’ Etsy”), the Realtors Association <\/a>, dozens of members of Congress (here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>), the guy who invented the term “net neutrality,”<\/a> even the man behind <\/a>The Godfather<\/a> <\/em>and William Shatner<\/a> all think the rules on the books are the best around. And if you care about your autonomy online, you can add your voice to the chorus, too.<\/p>\n