Congress has introduced the Save the Internet Act of 2019 to bring back the Obama-era rules preventing service providers from manipulating the speed and content of what consumers can see. These rules were repealed by the FCC in 2017. The FCC’s repeal of Net neutrality was overruled by the Senate under the Congressional Review Act, but the House of Representatives did not take up the issue. Let’s remind our MoCs that at the time of the FCC repeal, 83% of Americans, including 75% of Republicans, supported net neutrality rules. Read more here.
The Save the Internet Act would reinstate 2015 rules:
- No blocking
- No throttling
- No paid prioritization
Net Neutrality means an Internet service provider (ISP) has to treat all traffic the same. Open networks allow information to flow freely and more people to be connected, which helps innovation and ultimately economic growth.
In 2004 FCC Chair Michael K. Powell said, “If we secure a reasonable balance between the needs of network providers and internet freedom, consumers will reap the benefits of broadband without intrusive regulation, while preserving industry’s incentives to deploy more high-speed broadband platforms.”
Consumers are entitled to these “Internet Freedoms:
- To Access Content
- To Use Applications
- To Attach Personal Devices
- To Obtain Service Plan Information
“Net Freedom” will:
- Promote comparison shopping among the growing number of providers
- Promote innovation by giving developers and service providers confidence that they can develop broadband applications that reach consumers and run as designed
- Serve as an important “insurance policy” against the potential rise of abusive market power by vertically-integrated broadband providers