The net neutrality rules that were voted into effect last year prevent internet providers from regulating or blocking internet services, while at the same time preventing the providers from charging premium fees to content providers to ensure that their content is delivered via faster speeds. In addition, put in place by the rules is groundwork that prohibits providers from using measures that make it difficult for content providers and web users to connect to each other online.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, who is an opponent of the net neutrality rules, stated at a gathering for the anti-regulatory group Free State Foundation, “I’m optimistic that last month’s election will prove to be an inflection point — and that during the Trump Administration, we will shift from playing defense at the FCC to going on offense.”
Pai continued, “On the day that the [net neutrality order] was adopted, I said that ‘I don’t know whether this plan will be vacated by a court, reversed by Congress, or overturned by a future Commission. But I do believe that its days are numbered.’ Today, I am more confident than ever that this prediction will come true.”
FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, also opposes the current net neutrality rules. O’Rielly pointed out in a speech to the Free State Foundation, that the new broadband privacy rules of the FCC are “inconsistent with the Federal Trade Commission regime that has governed the Internet until now, and will continue to govern most of it.”
The new rules that O’Rielly referred to go into effect early next year. The rules specifically require permission from the subscriber before an internet provider can use personal information obtained via app usage and web activity, for ad targeting. These rules apply only to internet providers, such as Time Warner, Comcast, and AT&T. Companies that provide other internet services such as social networks and search engines, are considered “edge providers”, and therefore are not by the new rules.
