Ajit Pai is victorious. Net neutrality is officially dead
Sahil Bhalla
| Updated on: 15 December 2017, 13:55 IST
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It was a 3-2 vote and along party lines – Republicans have three seats, while Democrats hold two. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the measure to remove the tough net neutrality rules put in place under the Barack Obama administration barely two years ago. That ruling was aimed at keeping the internet free and open.
This marks the approval of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal and is a victory for internet services providers (ISP) like AT&T and Verzion in the United States. This ruling at its core level doesn’t disbar the internet providers from doing anything that they’d wish to. They can block websites, throttle websites and even prioritise certain websites by giving them a fast lane. The rider: whatever they do they have to state that publicly.
Many companies like Google’s parent Alphabet ad Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook, Democrats and various Hollywood companies had come together to urge Pai, to keep the Obama-era rules in place.
Supporters of net neutrality argue that, without these rules, ISPs would be able to control traffic in anti-competitive ways.
Opponents of net neutrality argued all along that the internet was doing just fine and that the 2015 rules weren’t needed. Pai argued that the 2015 rules stifled competition and innovation among all service providers out there.
“The internet wasn't broken in 2015. We were not living in some digital dystopia,” Pai said on 14 December. “The main problem consumers have with the internet is not and has never been that their internet provider is blocking access to content. It's been that they don't have access at all.”
While consumers won’t be noticing any overnight changes, the long-term effects will be felt. Smaller startups are preparing to face the brunt of the new ruling. They fear that their costs could be driven up or their content blocked altogether.
Internet service providers have not ruled out the possibility of paid prioritisation.
Following this vote, there is almost certainly going to be a court battle. Net neutrality supporters will, in most likelihood, sue the commission and get the vote invalidated and restore the Obama-era net neutrality rules. As it is, the FCC will have to prove that there is enough to back up the conclusion that the net neutrality rules be revoked.
