Network neutrality is dead. The rules governing today’s internet, known as the 2015 Open Internet Order, will be lifted any day now. It will mark the first time the US has gone without some form of net neutrality since the 1990s. What happens to net neutrality now? Despite the Federal Communications Commission giving internet providers free reign, immediate changes aren’t likely.
The long, long trail winding from the Federal Communications Commission's Dec. 14, 2017, decision to eliminate network neutrality rules and the actual rollback of those rules continues to wind through Washington, with April 27 the next red-letter day. While some were reporting that April 23 was the effective date of the Restoring Internet Freedom order, that was not the case, or at least not the case with the overwhelming majority of the order, which still awaits the turn of another government wheel or two.
Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood told Congress that “Comcast’s total capital spending for the two years following the 2015 [net neutrality] vote increased by 26 percent." In contrast to claims, Comcast’s investment data provide, if anything, evidence that reclassification has been detrimental to capital spending.
Gov Gina Raimondo (D-RI) ordered state agencies to use internet providers who observe network neutrality rules. Gov Raimondo said she issued the executive order so Rhode Islanders can “rely on the free exchange of information on the internet including the ability to access the content of their choosing.” The order mimics legislation pending in the state’s General Assembly that is intended to incentivize internet providers into following the Obama-era rules repealed by President Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), the chief sponsor of a measure to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of the net neutrality rules via the Congressional Review Act (CRA), says he envisions it hitting the floor in May 2018. “We’re going to file it right after the break and then we expect sometime in the middle of May to have it on the Senate floor,” said Sen Markey. He didn’t say whether he had secured the elusive 51st vote to pass the CRA resolution in the upper chamber on a simple majority.
Facebook’s co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told Congress under oath that by providing its users with greater and more transparent controls over the personal data they share and how it is used for targeted advertising, he insisted, Facebook could empower them to make their own call and decide how much privacy they were willing to put on the block. As he surely knows, providing a greater sense of control over their personal data won’t make Facebook users more cautious. It will instead encourage them to share more.
Sinclair Broadcast Group has reached deals to sell nearly two dozen television stations as it works to get regulators to sign off on its purchase of Tribune Media. Sinclair said that the move to sell the 23 stations in 18 markets, some of which are owned by Sinclair and some by Tribune, was needed to obtain government approval for the $3.9 billion purchase of fellow television-station owner Tribune.
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