FCC to officially begin effort to reinstate net neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is beginning the process of restoring net neutrality rules that were axed during former President Donald Trump administration.

The moves follow the Senate confirming President Joe Biden's nominee, Anna Gomez, to the FCC in early September. Gomez is assuming the third Democratic seat on the five-person panel, giving Biden a long-awaited Democratic majority at the FCC following a contentious, and ultimately unsuccessful, 16-month-long confirmation battle for his first pick, Gigi Sohn.

The net neutrality rules would once again designate internet services as “essential telecommunications” and would prohibit internet service providers from blocking or throttling access to websites—while conversely preventing ISPs from speeding up service to certain websites, such as those that would pay extra fees for faster service.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will formally announce the commission's net neutrality plans in a speech Tuesday afternoon. Her proposal was first reported by Bloomberg on Monday and confirmed by a senior FCC official on Tuesday.

Rosenworcel has been vocal in her opposition to the 2017 decision to rescind net neutrality protections, saying in a 2020 statement: "This is crazy. The internet should be open and available for all. That’s what net neutrality is about."

The move comes one day after a group of 27 Democratic lawmakers wrote to Rosenworcel, urging the FCC to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act.

"Doing so will enable you to effectively protect consumers from harmful practices online, promote affordable access to the internet, enhance public safety, increase marketplace competition, and take other important steps to benefit our nation’s digital future," the lawmakers, led by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), wrote in the letter.

The lawmakers went on to criticize the 2017 decision to repeal net neutrality policies, arguing that the move "threw out most of the Commission’s ability to enforce the consumer protection, competition, public safety, and universal service principles at the heart of the Communications Act."

Several of the signatories have been longtime advocates of net neutrality, including Wyden, who last year called net neutrality an "absolute no-brainer."

"I wrote the first Senate net neutrality bill to protect the open internet, where bits are bits and no one has to pay extra for digital toll roads just to learn, shop or get health care online," Wyden said.

In a statement last summer supporting congressional action to reintroduce net neutrality, Rosenworcel said that "the pandemic made clear internet access is no longer a luxury, but a necessity—and that consumers don’t just need broadband, they need to be able to hold their providers to account."

"After all, everyone should be able to go where they want and do what they want online without their broadband provider making choices for them," she said at the time. “I support net neutrality because it fosters this openness and accountability. While I trust the FCC has the authority it needs to adopt net neutrality rules, legislation that helps ensure it is the law of the land is welcome.”

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