FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Plans Fast-Track Repeal of Net Neutrality (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is moving quickly to replace the Obama administration's landmark net neutrality rules and wants internet service providers to voluntarily agree to maintain an open internet, three sources briefed on the meeting said Thursday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, met on Tuesday with major telecommunications trade groups to discuss his preliminary plan to reverse the rules, the sources said. The rules approved by the FCC under Democratic President Barack Obama in early 2015 prohibited broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a "fast lane," to certain internet services over others. As part of that change, the FCC reclassified internet service providers much like utilities. Pai wants to overturn that reclassification, but wants internet providers to voluntarily agree to not obstruct or slow consumer access to web content, two officials said late Tuesday. The officials briefed on the meeting said Pai suggested companies commit in writing to open internet principles and including them in their terms of service, which would make them binding. It is unclear if regulators could legally compel internet providers to adopt open internet principles without existing net neutrality rules. As part of that move, the Federal Trade Commission would assume oversight of ensuring compliance.Three sources said Pai plans to unveil his proposal to overturn the rules as early as late April and it could face an initial vote in May or June.

Comments

Re:"Voluntary"

[Anonymous Coward]

We need to rapidly repeal the burdonsome regulations that hamstring American job creators and inhibit their ability to compete on a global stage. We do not need to micromanage every aspect of their business, rather we must trust that they will do what's best to maximize their profit margin while remaining good corporate citizens. People are not stupid, if there is someone out there abusing the law or being shady they will take their business elsewhere. Basically supply and demand can solve almost any problem and we don't need to regulate the shit out of everything which ensures only the biggest companies with the most lawyers can survive and means it's virtually impossible for anyone to create a startup.