Net neutrality - live updates: Politicians prepare to fight against FCC's decision to scrap rules protecting internet freedoms
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Your support makes all the difference.The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under the direction of President Trump, has voted to repeal Obama-era rules governing net neutrality.
The five-person board has voted in favour of ending net neutrality, a decision that could have a huge effect on the way the internet works.
Supporters of net neutrality say the move could open the door for internet service providers (ISPs) to charge customers more and dictate what people use the internet for.
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Immediately after the vote, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he intended to file a legal challenge against the vote. It is unlikely to be the last.
ISPs greeted the news warmly, but Senator Ed Markey a Democrat from Massachusetts said he would be looking to introduce an act in Congress calling for a review of the FCC decision. he labelled it a "historic mistake".
Critics are questioning how the FCC considered its repeal of net-neutrality rules, asking if it abided by its legal obligation to review and consider the public's comments.
The Obama-era rules aimed to guarantee equal access to the internet, curbing the power of internet providers to control where people go and what they do online.
Sean Moulton, open government program manager for the Washington-based nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, says public comments ensure that the public can "have its voice heard and considered."
A Pew Research Center analysis of the nearly 22 million public comments on net neutrality submitted to the FCC found that the vast majority were repeats, with more than 75,000 comments submitted at the exact same second on nine different occasions — possibly indicating these were automated submissions.
In that vain - The New York Attorney General, Democrat Eric Schneiderman, has been investigating fake public comments submitted to the FCC during the net neutrality comment process.
Mr Schneiderman said his analysis shows 2 million comments stole the identities of real Americans, including dead people and children.
On the issue of Congress, Democrat Senator Ed Markey has said that he will introduce a resolution calling for a Congressional Review Act over the FCC decision. If taken up, Congress would then review the FCC decision.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said in a written dissent that the decision grants internet providers "extraordinary new power" from the FCC.
"They have the technical ability and business incentive to discriminate and manipulate your internet traffic. And now this agency gives them the legal green light to go ahead," she said.
The broadband industry cheered the move. USTelecom, a lobbying group representing internet providers and broadband companies said after the vote they had "renewed confidence" to make network investments, particularly in rural communities.
On the other side, the trade group Internet Association, whose members include content providers Alphabet, Facebook and Pandora Media Inc, said "the fight isn't over" and that it was weighing legal options in a lawsuit against the FCC order.
A recent University of Maryland poll found more than 80 per cent of respondents opposed a repeal. The survey of 1,077 registered voters was conducted online by the Program for Public Consultation from 6 to 8 December
Coming on the same day as the FCC decision, President Donald Trump has said that by ending excessive regulation his government is "defending democracy and draining the swamp".
The US president is relishing the rolling back of federal rules in his administration's first year, as critics say he has tried to dismantle important protections for the environment, consumers and others.
The effort is driven by Mr Trump's contention there are too many rules, which is stifling economic growth.
AT&T and other big internet service providers are applauding the Federal Communications Commission for unraveling sweeping net-neutrality rules that guaranteed equal access to the internet.
The FCC voted 3-2 on Thursday to overturn Obama-era rules that had been designed to prevent providers such as Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Charter from favoring some sites and apps over others.
AT&T Senior Executive Vice President Bob Quinn said in a blog post Thursday that "the internet will continue to work tomorrow just as it always has." Quinn says the company won't block websites and it won't throttle or degrade online traffic based on content.
The providers have argued that the overhaul will allow them to invest more money in broadband infrastructure over time, though it's not clear how their claims will be measured.
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat appointed by President Barack Obama, lambasted the "preordained outcome" of the vote that she said hurts small and large businesses and ordinary people. She said the end of net neutrality hands over the keys to the internet to a "handful of multibillion-dollar corporations."
With their vote, she added, the FCC's Republican commissioners are abandoning the pledge they took to make a rapid, efficient communications service available to all people in the U.S., without discrimination.
But Michael O'Rielly, a GOP commissioner appointed by Obama, called the FCC's approach a "well-reasoned and soundly justified order."
The internet, he said, "has functioned without net neutrality rules for far longer than it has with them." The decision "will not break the internet."
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