The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules and assume new regulatory oversight of broadband internet that was rescinded under former President Donald Trump, the agency’s chair said.
The FCC told advocates on Tuesday of the plan to vote on the final rule at its April 25 meeting.

      • onlinepersona@programming.devEnglish
        22·
        7 months ago

        In 2011, Pai was then nominated for a Republican Party position on the Federal Communications Commission by President Barack Obama at the recommendation of Minority leader Mitch McConnell.

        Probably didn’t have a choice. I imagine the Republicans would’ve thrown a fit and blocked any other nomination.

        CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.socialEnglish
    36·
    7 months ago

    So, iirc, net neutrality was originally a law enforced by the FCC under title 1 regulations, then it was struck down by the Supreme Court because “there’s enough competition in the marketplace that makes it unnecessary”, then the FCC under Obama tried to regulate it as a title 2 service, which got repealed by Ajit Pai (aka “A shit pie”), and now the FCC is trying to impose net neutrality again. Assuming my memory is correct, how certain are we that the Supreme Court won’t eventually turn around and rule against it?

    Edit (because I accidentally submitted before I was done): Not that this is a bad move, but I’m not confident that the Supreme Court won’t rule in favor of business interests. On one hand, net neutrality should be required. On the other hand, doing this while the Supreme Court is effectively captured by corporate interests seems risky because it could further establish court precedent and make it harder for future efforts to regulate ISPs; even when the court is less corporate-owned.

    Edit 2: corrections.

    • plz1@lemmy.worldEnglish
      23·
      7 months ago

      I think you are blending your facts/timeline. Ajit Pai’s FCC struck them down for that (dubious) reason. This upcoming vote is to undo that damage and revert back to what the FCC under Obama put in place.

      • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.socialEnglish
        8·
        7 months ago

        I looked into it and I was wrong about it being a law, but it was regulated under title 1 regulations, which the FCC claimed let them enforce net neutrality. That got struck down in court, which lead to the FCC regulating it under title 2, which was removed by Pai and is now being reinstated by Biden’s FCC.

        Edit: I think I got it, lemme know if there’s some nuance I’m missing.

    • zkfcfbzr@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      7 months ago

      doing this while the Supreme Court is effectively captured by corporate interests seems risky

      If we wait for that to stop being true, it’ll just mean not doing it at all.

      doing this while the Supreme Court is effectively captured by corporate interests seems risky because it could further establish court precedent

      If there’s one thing the current court’s shown, it’s that precedent doesn’t mean diddly squat to the supreme court. If and when the court is ever returned to a respectable position I’m sure many of their current decisions will be overturned.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      64·
      7 months ago

      Democrats were stymied for nearly three years because they did not take majority control of the five-member FCC until October.

      Basically they didn’t because Republicans, and then when they could they immediately started the process, since the initial vote was in October and the upcoming vote is to confirm the finalized rules changes.

      • fidodo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        24·
        7 months ago

        It’s kinda infuriating that Democrats spend years working tirelessly to undo Republican bullshit, and when they finally do, people are like “but why didn’t you do it sooner?”. Do these people have zero life expense l experience where it’s fucking hard to change institutions?