The new FCC’s net neutrality rules might appear as a very controversial subject to discuss, but most of the regular online surfers have the same negative opinion about it. The efforts to put this plan in motion came from the Trump’s government; this can also be described as another Trump’s step that strongly displeases the majority of Americans.
Despite the protests and other clear indications that people are against the new policy of net neutrality, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted yes on these rules. The change was accepted in December of 2017, but no big alterations have been noticed yet. This is become that the “Restoring Internet Freedom” rules are scheduled to become active in 23rd of April.
FCC’s net neutrality policy is becoming more and more real
The new order has been submitted into the Federal Registry last week. This bring us one step closer to a world, in which Internet providers will be able to block websites, unacceptable content and divide the Internet into fast and slow lanes. All of these features were discussed in one of our article and you can read it here.
After the net neutrality policy has been published in the Federal Register, specialists are predicting that things will go faster from now on. Polls in America have shown that 77% of the country’s citizens are supporting the rules that became active in 2015. 87% of Americans explains that people should be able to access any website they like without having to pay additional fees.
According to the Congressional Review Act (CRA), Congress can refuse to follow orders from federal agency. There is not much time for the congress to object the FCC’s net neutrality rules. The situation in Senate is also a close call: many senators oppose the new rules, but there are some supporters of the FCC’s orders as well.
Supporters of 2015 net neutrality rules oppose the new changes with lawsuits
Some companies are also filing lawsuits against FCC in United States Court of Appeals. Opponents of the new net neutrality policy are warning people that the new order would give organizations like Verizon, Comcast and others too much power to control the Internet. In fact, these companies would be able to make big profits thanks to the opinions of the FCC.
Probably the strongest supporter of the new neutrality has always been Ajit Pai. He is the FCC Chairman who feels very strongly about the rules that were established by the Obama’s government. According to FCC, the changes will improve economy and allow innovations to blossom like they never did before. However, they seem to have forgotten the impact that net neutrality is going to to small businesses as most of them won’t be able to stand a chance against the big sharks in the business industry.
While many steps have been taken to protect the net neutrality as it is now, the future remains unclear. Some of the states in America attempt to keep their rules at the state level and prevent FCC orders from becoming active. After all, nobody wants to access only a limited number of websites or pay for faster Internet lanes.
Even though FCC’s position in the net neutrality discussion is clear, it is still vague why the new orders are so essential. If the opponents of FCC would be able to reinstate the rules of 2015, this would be a great celebration for all Internet surfers. However, it is unknown whether the voices of millions of Americans will be heard, or ignored like many times before.
Source: washingtonexaminer.com.
