End of online freedom in US?

US regulators vote to roll back ‘net neutrality’.

Washington: US regulators voted to roll back so-called “net neutrality” rules which required Internet providers to treat all traffic equally, a move opponents say would curb online freedom.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a three-totwo vote, adopted a proposal by Republican-appointed chairman Ajit Pai, who said his plan would scrap “heavy-handed” rules adopted in 2015 which he argued discouraged investment and innovation.

The vote capped a heated partisan debate and is just the latest in a battle over more than a decade on rules governing Internet service providers in the courts and the FCC.

Democratic member Mignon Clyburn, one of the two dissenters, charged that the agency was “handing the keys to the Internet” to “a handful of multibillion dollar corporations”.

Immediately following the vote, officials from two states and others vowed to challenge the FCC action in court. Net neutrality activists have staged a series of protests in cities around the US and online, amid fears that dominant broadband providers could change how the Internet works.

“Chairman Pai has given Internet service providers an explicit licence to block, slow or levy tolls on content,” said Ferras Vinh of the Centre for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights group.

Vinh said Internet providers “will now have even greater power to shape the online experiences of Internet users, at the expense of consumers and small companies”.

Net neutrality backers have argued that clear rules are need-

Chairman Pai has given Internet service providers an explicit licence to block, slow or levy y tolls on content. Ferras Vinh

ed to prevent Internet service providers from blocking or throttling services or websites for competitive reasons.

Some activists fear Internet service providers will seek to extract higher fees from services that are heavy data users, like Netflix or other streaming services, with these costs passed on to consumers, but new startups without the resources of major companies would be more likely to feel the pain.

Critics of the 2015 net neutrality rule counter that it was based on utility-style regulation designed for 1930s telephone companies, not a dynamic Internet market.

Pai said ahead of the vote that his plan would restore “lighttouch” rules which allowed the Internet to flourish, and promote investments to enable new and emerging services.

“The digital world bears no resemblance to a water pipe or electric line or sewer,” Pai said in a session briefly halted over an undisclosed security threat.

“Entrepreneurs and innovators guided the Internet far better than the heavy hand of government.” — AFP