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Radio News: FCC moving to block net neutrality nationally and locally
Nov 05, 2017 10:03 pm
Jon Brodkin reports in Ars Technica that anyone who hopes the Federal Communications Commission will leave the net neutrality rules are probably not going to be happy with the FCC's Dec. 14 vote. Last week, Comcast officials met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's staff to prevent states from issuing their own net neutrality rules. Net Neutrality is the basic principle that prohibits internet service providers from speeding up, slowing down, or blocking any content, applications, or websites. It is supposed to give customers an even playing field, instead of having to pay more for services such as streaming audio. But while Pai is doing everything he can to eliminate those rules at the federal level, his Chief of Staff Matthew Berry and Senior Counsel Nicholas Degani met with Comcast Senior VP Frank Buono and a Comcast attorney last week to make sure states cannot make their own net neutrality rules. An ex parte filing about the meeting says the Comcast officials, "also emphasized that the Commission's order in this proceeding should include a clear, affirmative ruling that expressly confirms the primacy of federal law with respect to BIAS [Broadband Internet Access Service] as an interstate information service, and that preempts state and local efforts to regulate BIAS either directly or indirectly." Comcast is telling the public it supports net neutrality, but wants the FCC to do it in the way they tried in 2010. Those rules were thrown out by a court. So Comcast is saying one thing, but asking for another. Expect your internet service to become more costly and slower after the Dec. 14 vote.