One of the many fronts Democrats are battling President Donald Trump on is over how much to regulate internet service providers. Open access and open markets are clashing as Trump works to deregulate American business.
Trump’s new chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, has embraced the White House’s policy of loosening federal regulations on business. One of those regulations is net neutrality, policies put in place by former President Barack Obama’s administration to stop internet providers from favoring some types of online data traffic over others.
Obama’s 2015 net neutrality rules treated internet providers like utility companies and prohibited them from discriminating against certain kinds of internet traffic, stopping providers like Comcast or Verizon from giving preference to things like expensive HD streaming video over other data.
Advocates for a regulated system, such as U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, say the rules need to be strong to maintain a level playing field for users who may not be able to afford faster, pricier service.
“Net neutrality rules ensure that those with the best ideas, not necessarily those with the best funded ideas, have the opportunity to share their content with the world,” Markey said at a press conference in Washington, D.C. Tuesday where several Democratic senators and online access advocates pushed back against Pai.
Free market advocates like Trump and Pai want the government’s hands off how the internet is regulated, arguing that fewer rules means more competition and better service for consumers.
In his opening remarks to the FCC after being elevated to chairman, Pai said one of his main goals will be to close the gap “between those who can use from cutting-edge communications services and those who do not.”
“I believe one of our core priorities going forward should be to close that divide — to do what’s necessary to help the private sector build networks, send signals, and distribute information to American consumers, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or anything else. We must work to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans,” Pai said, according to a transcription of his remarks.
According to the New York Times, Pai has already put forward several policy changes to halt Obama-era regulations of internet traffic, including halting several companies from providing discounted high-speed internet service to low-income consumers.
“I have called net neutrality the free speech issue of our time because the basic principles of our democracy are at stake,” Minnesota Sen. Al Franken said at the Democrats’ press conference.
