Net Neutrality: Facebook, Amazon, Google push Congress to restore internet protections stripped by Trump FCC
On February 9, 2018 by Kenna REUTERS/Yuri Gripas Facebook and Google’s parent company Alphabet are among the tech giants pushing a congressional bid to reverse the Trump administration’s plan to repeal Obama-era Net Neutrality rules that protect the open internet.
David Shepardson for Reuters:
The FCC voted along party lines in December to repeal net neutrality regulations. Those rules, introduced in 2015, were lauded by tech companies and consumer groups but denounced by internet service providers as hindering investment.
The Internet Association, which represents Google’s parent, Facebook, Amazon.com, Microsoft, Netflix and many others, said in a letter on Thursday to Senate leaders that it backed the Senate effort to reverse the vote, but also called for a long-term fix.
”The internet industry urges Congress to legislate a permanent solution,” the group said in the letter made public on Thursday. “The time has come for a bipartisan effort to establish permanent net neutrality rules.”
A public backlash against the FCC’s plan, especially among younger people, has raised concerns among some politicians about how the issue might play out in the 2018 congressional elections.
More than 20 U.S. state attorneys general are also mounting a legal challenge of the FCC’s vote to reverse the rules introduced in 2015 that prevent internet providers, such as AT&T and Comcast from obstructing information they transmit to customers or offering paid fast lanes, also known as paid prioritization.
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