FCC Moves Forward on Suspending Net Neutrality

**What happened while we were paying attention to Russia
**Almost 3 million people have commented to the FCC on their proposal to end Net Neutrality. On May 18, the FCC voted to move ahead with the repeal of the 2015 regulation that designates Internet Services as a common carrier. This designation means that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are subject to the same rules as other utilities and, therefore, must treat all traffic on the Internet the same — no putting companies that pay more money ahead in the line, no throttling of content that a corporation might not like — with Net Neutrality, everyone on the Internet is equal (even if they’re a dog tweeting while their people are out). As a user with Net Neutrality, you can see any content on the Internet without restrictions — your ISP can’t block or slow down content (just like your phone company can’t decide who you call). Without Net Neutrality, the Internet turns into a closed network (like your network at work) with the service providers deciding what content, websites, and applications succeed. You can read more about this here:

FCC Votes To Begin Rollback Of Net Neutrality Regulations

**What happens now?
**The FCC is still in a period of public comment. The deadline for comment is July 17, cutoff for reply comments in August 16.

You can read the FCC proposal before commenting here:

https://medium.com/media/0a7e79040759f026c57b0182f92b880f/href

Here’s how to comment (thanks to Reddit.com):

https://medium.com/media/96e0dd69eb74cf92e8b04bcb1d5809cb/href

**Anything else?
**Congress could legislate this matter, although whether that could be bi-partisan is up for grabs in the current Republican-led environment.

The Senate also has the power to stop this. The current FCC Chairman is a man named Ajit Pai. He was formerly employed as Associate Counsel for Verizon, a major provider of Internet Services that has a financial stake in how the internet is governed. His term ends at the end of this year and he will need to be reconfirmed by the Senate in order to maintain his position.

**Tell Congress what you think!
**Thanks for reading! Text RESIST to 50409 to tell your representatives what you think about this, or see what else is happening this week:

FCC to Reconsider Net Neutrality