While attention was focused on the talks between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung Un in Singapore back in the nation’s capital, the Net Neutrality rules put in place in 2015 quietly went away after the House of Representatives failed to act on a measure passed by the U.S. Senate in May that would have kept the measure in place.
Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown was among 48 senators to sign a letter urging House Speaker Paul Ryan to immediately schedule a vote on the bipartisan, Senate-passed legislation but that didn’t happen.
The FCC voted in December to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, which prohibits internet service providers from setting up internet fast and slow lanes and ensured they could not block or slow down internet traffic.
“Net neutrality is about keeping the internet accessible for small businesses, students, entrepreneurs, startups, and Ohioans looking for jobs,” said Brown in a statement. “We shouldn’t be putting internet access out of reach for Ohioans to pad the pockets of the biggest telecom executives.”
“Without these protections, broadband providers can decide what content gets through to consumers at what speeds and could use this power to discriminate against their competitors or other content,” the Senators said in their letter to Speaker Ryan.
“Under this new regime, the internet would no longer be a level playing field. Instead, big corporations who could pay would enjoy the benefits of a fast lane and speedy delivery of their content to consumers while those who could not pay these tolls – such as startups and small businesses, schools, rural Americans, and communities of color – would be disadvantaged.”
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman voted against that Senate measure saying he believed the FCC didn’t have the legal authority to pass it in the first place in 2015 but he said last month he supports “a law to protect consumers and secure an open internet, not a partisan regulatory process at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that can be easily changed from administration to administration.”
Portman said “Congress should set the rules for the internet and act on legislation that would prevent blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization of internet traffic. I have spoken with Chairman Thune and he made a commitment to me that he is proceeding on bipartisan legislation that embodies these principles.”
