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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced Net Neutrality will officially end in the United States on June 11. The news was announced via a press release by FCC chairman Ajit Pai.
The Restoring Internet Freedom Order sets the regulation of internet service providers back to the approach that was taken for nearly 20 years but it was ended in 2015 with Net Neutrality.
As Pai explains:
On June 11th, we will have a framework in place that encourages innovation and investment in our nation’s networks so that all Americans, no matter where they live, can have access to better, cheaper and faster internet access and the jobs, opportunities and platform for free expression that it provides.
In a separate release, minority FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called the decision “profoundly disappointing,” explaining:
The FCC is on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law and the wrong side of the American people. It deserves to have its handiwork revisited, reexamined and ultimately reversed.
Implemented two years ago, Net Neutrality forbids internet providers from blocking or throttling specific web pages or from giving preferential treatment to particular sites. Under the revised rules, internet service providers are once again classified as “information service” providers, which they were called between 1996 and 2015. In doing so, providers could make some content arrive more quickly than others with no restrictions.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on a measure this week that would overturn the FCC’s decision. Even if that measure were to pass it would still face long odds in the Republican-controlled U.S. House.
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