Yesterday the FCC voted to begin dismantling net neutrality protections, but the rules aren't dead yet. Approving the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) only begins the process of trying to roll back the rules. But Ajit Pai and net neutrality opponents still have their work cut out for them. There's now a 90 day comment period ahead of a broader vote later this year, after which Pai and friends may still have a steep uphill climb in the face of what will be inevitable lawsuits from consumer advocates, hardware vendors, and competitors.
And those court cases will be no slam dunk: Pai and the FCC will need to show that the market has changed substantially (it hasn't) since the rules were passed in 2015, and an appeals court
upheld the FCC's authority to create them last year.
And even if Pai and O'Rielly are able of using their 2-1 partisan majority to formally kill the rules, the rules could be brought back again by a future FCC.
That's why you're seeing a major push from ISPs (and the lawmakers and think tanks paid to love them) for a new net neutrality law. You see, ISP lobbyists know they'd be the ones writing such a law, ensuring it contains so many loopholes as to be useless.
The ISP plan is of the good cop, bad cop variety, and will go something like this:
• Pai threatens to kill net neutrality. (just happened)
• ISPs push their well-heeled lawmakers to promote a new net neutrality "compromise" law (already happening). You're to ignore the fact that ISP lobbyists will literally be writing this legislation.
• Said law will be so loophole-filled that it's effectively worse than no rules at all, but it would prevent future FCCs from revisiting the issue down the line. You can be fairly certain any such legislation will not only gut net neutrality (while pretending to save it), but will include language aimed at eroding regulatory oversight of broadband overall.
Under this path, flimsy net neutrality protections would then be the law of the land, banning things most ISPs have no intention of doing (outright blocking of websites), but not any of the real hot-button areas when net neutrality violations are now occurring (usage caps, zero rating, interconnection). Based on 20 years of watching this industry, I have zero doubt this is AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Charter's plan this summer in the hopes of avoiding a protracted legal battle.
The problem for the FCC and GOP is that Democrats realize that net neutrality has broad, bipartisan support, the bills being presented won't be anything close to a genuine "compromise," and participating in killing the rules is politically toxic for those facing a looming midterm race. It would likely be more effective to force the FCC to try and defend its abrupt about face in the court system.
What You Can Do to Help
Share your thoughts with the FCC: If you haven't already, head on over to the FCC's comment system and share your thoughts (the Express option is the easiest) on the FCC's plan to dismantle consumer protections for one of the least competitive industries in America (be civil!). When you've done that, get your mom, dad, sisters, brothers and friends to file their comments as well. Comments will matter: when the FCC tries to defend their action to the courts, it will be harder to do if it's documentably clear they're operating against the public interest.
Contact your representatives: Contact your representatives (Resist bot is kind of handy), and let them know you do not support net neutrality legislation at this time, because the best way to protect consumers is leaving the existing rules and the FCC's Title II authority in place. Again, you'll see a big push for Congressional legislation throughout the summer, and people need to understand this is not a real solution, for the reasons outlined above.
Talk with your neighbors and friends: Despite a solid decade of discussing this issue, there's still countless Americans that have no idea what net neutrality is or what any of this means. Explain to them how the broadband industry isn't competitive (start by asking them how much they pay for broadband, phone and cable every month), and the FCC's Title II authority is one of the only things standing between themselves and ISPs like Comcast abusing that lack of competition in a rotating array of creative new ways.
Donate: Find a group that supports net neutrality and donate. There's plenty to choose from, including the EFF, Free Press, Public Knowledge, or Fight For the Future. With big companies like Google and Netflix now too busy trying to curry favor with the Trump presidency to bother standing up for consumers, these groups need your help now more than ever.
Yesterday's vote is only the beginning. Large ISPs (and the think tankers, lawyers, consultants, lobbyists and politicians paid to love them) have a very hard, steep uphill climb to kill net neutrality this summer. Don't make it easy for them. Ensure that ignoring the will of the public comes with notable repercussions.
