The Only Thing the F.C.C. Vote Accomplished Was a Setback of the Regulations for Net Neutrality
Major media companies rushed to falsely report the death of Net Neutrality.
First, and most importantly, there are very few laws that hold up over time. The majority of laws and regulations are repealed and reframed for each administration. To claim that any regulation, such as Net Neutrality is dead, is completely false. If death is absolute, than a majority of major media companies should all run retractions on their stories that claim the death of these regulations.
Fake news has been a buzz word during 2017, and with several news outlets claiming that Net Neutrality is dead, I can see why people lack trust with major media corporations.
Second, the FCC’s decision will be challenged by a multiple of states suing over their vote. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, said in a statement he will lead a multi-state lawsuit to challenge the reversal. The lawsuit has not been filed yet, but it has also not been excused.
Third, the Senate is planning to vote on reversing the vote by the F.C.C. On Friday, Senator Charles Schumer of New York said he would force a vote on the FCC action under the Congressional Review Act.
Furthermore, these legal battles will take months to go through either way. Do not worry about your service being altered anytime soon. That being said, if these legal battles are unable to overturn the F.C.C. vote, it is possible that Internet Service Providers could start to do the following to services regarding Title II:
- These companies can now slow down their competitors’ content or block political opinions they disagree with. They can charge extra fees to the few content companies that can afford to pay for preferential treatment — relegating everyone else to a slower tier of service.
- Title II gave the FCC the authority it needed to ensure that companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon can’t block, throttle or otherwise interfere with web traffic.
- Title II preserved the internet’s level playing field, allowing people to share and access information of their choosing. These rules ushered in a historic era of online innovation and investment.
If the regulations are removed, the majority of people in our country will have to wait until 2020 to sound their voice. With the current approval ratings for Donald Trump, it is a long shot to believe he has any chance of winning the 2020 presidential election. As a democracy, it is our responsibility to vote in every election.
In a worst case scenario, the vote to repeal Net Neutrality is passed through. We will have to wait until 2022 to have the opportunity to remove Ajit Pai from office. I had originally reported that the next president could remove him from office in 2020, but a more likely time frame will be waiting out his term of five years that started at the beginning of 2017.
Any person with foresight can see a Democrat running for president in 2020 will use the Net Neutrality issue as a platform to win votes. They will replace the head of the F.C.C. and have the ruling reversed. Any reporter or reader can see that very few laws and regulations are finite.
It is unethical to use the word ‘dead’ or ‘killed’ to describe a law or regulation. I will admit I should have researched more into removing a head of a government agency before reporting that the head of the F.C.C. will be replaced in 2020. Overall, I do my best to report honest and truthful information regarding all topics. It is possible to remove the head of the F.C.C., but it does take a large amount of legal hurdles to achieve.
Finally, if you want to voice your opinion now, please urge your lawmakers to use a “resolution of disapproval” to overturn the FCC’s decision to dismantle the Net Neutrality rules.
https://youtu.be/JzNH0g7GKAA
Start the live stream video by The Washington Post at 1:40:00.
