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Radio News: Republicans introduce net neutrality without the neutrality
Mar 07, 2018 10:50 pm
Ars Technica reports Republicans in both houses of Congress have now introduced their fix for the Federal Communications Commission's rollback of net neutrality, the Open Internet Preservation Act. But the bills do pretty much what the FCC's rollback did. They allow paid prioritization or "fast lanes" for Internet service providers to charge more for online services for Internet users. So instead of paying extra to use YouTube without advertising, consumers would pay extra for YouTube at faster speeds, instead of everyone having access to YouTube at the same speed. The bills, sponsored by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), would also preempt state net neutrality laws. And states are currently passing laws to do whatever they can to bring back the old net neutrality rules in their borders. "This legislation would be disastrous for net neutrality, opening the door for large Internet providers to create fast and slow lanes online, which would destroy innovation and stifle free expression," the net neutrality advocacy group Demand Progress said in a statement.