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Net Neutrality Bill Sails Through the House But Faces an Uncertain Political Future (washingtonpost.com)

House lawmakers on Wednesday approved a Democrat-backed bill (alternative source) that would restore rules requiring AT&T, Verizon and other Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally, marking an early step toward reversing one of the most significant deregulatory moves of the Trump era. From a report: But the net neutrality measure is likely to stall from here, given strong Republican opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate and the White House, where aides to President Trump this week recommended that he veto the legislation if it ever reaches his desk. The House's proposal, which passed by a vote of 232-190, would reinstate federal regulations that had banned AT&T, Verizon and other broadband providers from blocking or slowing down customers' access to websites. Adopted in 2015 during the Obama administration, these net neutrality protections had the backing of tech giants and startups as well as consumer advocacy groups, which together argued that strong federal open Internet protections were necessary to preserve competition and allow consumers unfettered access to movies, music and other content of their choice.

2 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Voting matters! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    For all the people that say both parties are the same, here's a clear difference in policy.

    Unless you're against Net Neutrality, don't vote for the GOP next cycle

    Just LOL if you think the Democrats will remember this bill once they're in control of Congress again. This is classic politics: push through bills you think voters want but donors don't while you're not in power, secure in the knowledge that they'll never be signed into law. Use that to push for people to vote for you. Then, when in power, all of a sudden, forget all those issues that you campaigned on and press for laws that the real sources of power, the political donors, want.

    Both parties are exactly the same when it comes to that. If you think that the Democrats would be doing this if they were in power, just LOL. They already had a chance to pass net neutrality in the past, and they explicitly punted on it. (Or does no one remember why "a series of tubes" became a meme?) Face it, both parties are the same, they both serve the same corporate masters.

  2. Re:Voting matters! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Wait, I thought Bill Clinton was a Democrat?