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Net Neutrality Gets a Power-Up from Democrats

Net Neutrality Gets a Power-Up from Democrats

5 years ago
Anonymous $Dftgs0JzgE

https://www.wired.com/story/net-neutrality-legislation-2019/

Democrats in the House and Senate introduced a bill on Wednesday that would restore Obama-era net neutrality rules, a response to a December 2017 vote by the Federal Communications Commission that basically gutted the regulations that were put in place by the Democrat-controlled FCC in 2015. The 2017 vote had repealed the order that prohibited blocking, throttling, or otherwise discriminating against lawful content, and opened the door for internet service providers to block or throttle content at their own discretion. Today's bill, proposed by Senator Edward Markey (D–Massachusetts) and Representative Mike Doyle (D–Pennsylvania), would restore the 2015 protections and would bar the FCC from repealing the rules again.

The bill is similar to legislation passed by the US Senate in 2018, when three Republicans—senators Susan Collins of Maine, John Kennedy of Louisiana, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—crossed the aisle and joined Senate Democrats and Independents in a 52–47 vote to preserve net neutrality. (The late Republican senator John McCain of Arizona didn't vote.) After the legislation passed the Senate, the then-Republican-controlled House never voted on the proposal.