Area pols react to net-neutrality ruling

Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office investigating reports of names of real Pennsylvanians used for fake comments

In a 3-2 vote Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission repealed Obama-era regulations known as net neutrality that monitored service providers that connect users to the internet. In April, Congress voted along party lines to repeal the rules that would have prohibited internet service providers (ISPs) from selling or sharing web browsing habits of its consumer base.

Thursday, the FCC voted to repeal the protections that prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or creating a tierbased system that would see users pay for curated content. Opponents fear ISPs like Comcast or Verizon could throttle speeds of users in order to direct traffic to different websites or services.

However, Republican lawmakers have cited the rules as yet another example of government overreach, and have praised the repeal as fairer treatment of internet use. The federal government will no longer regular internet service like a utility.

“Congressman Meehan supports net neutrality and the idea that internet traffic should be treated fairly,” offered John Elizandro, communications director for Rep. Pat Meehan. “He’s hopeful Congress will be able to work on a bipartisan basis to establish fair rules protecting consumers against throttling, blocking, and paid prioritization.”

U.S. Senator Bob Casey opposes the repeal, calling the FCC vote on Thursday “reckless.”

“Net neutrality helps ensure the internet is free and open so consumers can access the content and services they want, and web services and content creators have an equal shot at reaching internet users,” Casey offered in a statement via communications director John Rizzo.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro upped the ante on the doom and gloom regarding the ruling Thursday, saying “the vote by the Federal Communications Commission to gut Net Neutrality could end the internet as we know it.

“The FCC action undermines free speech and is bad for consumers and business — especially startups and small businesses,” Shapiro continued in a statement.

Shapiro alleges that more than 1 million fake comments were sent to the FCC

about net neutrality, and said he had rallied 17 other attorneys general to delay Thursday’s vote in order to allow state and federal investigators to dig into those fake comments.

“This huge number includes tens of thousands of fake comments issued under the names of real Pennsylvanians,” Shapiro said. “The theft of someone’s voice in our democracy cannot stand, and we must first get to the bottom of this massive identity theft.”

Shapiro said he plans to “take legal action to protect Net Neutrality,” believing the FCC’s decision “will face serious legal challenges.”

Visit badcomments.attorneygeneral.gov to look and see if your name was used fraudulently to influence the FCC’s process. The Attorney General’s office will investigate all reports made through this site and this information may be important to future legal action.

The chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, who was nominated by President Donald

Trump in January, said the rollback of the regulations would eventually help consumers.

“We are helping consumers and promoting competition,” Pai said in a speech before the vote. “Broadband providers will have more incentive to build networks, especially to underserved areas.”

In Philadelphia, Comcast once had an exclusivity agreement with the city to be the only ISP in town.

Once that 10-year agreement ended, Verizon began offering broadband services within city limits.

Comcast, the largest cable operator and the largest home internet service provider in the United States, is also among the top contributors to political campaigns. In the 2016 election cycle, Comcast gave $12,594,527 in campaign contributors across all parties.

Comcast was among the top donors to the campaigns

of Meehan, Rep. Ryan Costello, R-6 of West Goshen, and U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., all of whom voted in favor of the repeal earlier this year.

Also in the news Thursday, Disney moved to take control of 21st Century Fox’s media empire, which thanks to a write-up by The Verge, highlights all the merges that took place Thursday:

Disney now has a controlling stake in Hulu, which was a joint effort between Comcast and Time Warner to compete with YouTube. Comcast and Time Warner are now minority stakeholders in Hulu. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which broadcasts shows on Hulu. Time Warner is in negotiations to be bought by AT&T, a competitor of Comcast. Time Warner is a competitor of both NBC and Disney. Comcast and AT&T control the network that people use to watch content from Disney, Time Warner, and NBC.