Chairman Pushes Sweeping Changes to Net Neutrality Rules -
By CECILIA KANGAPRIL 26, 2017
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday outlined a sweeping plan to loosen the government’s oversight of high-speed internet providers, a rebuke of a landmark policy approved two years ago to ensure
that all online content is treated the same by the companies that deliver broadband service to Americans.
The rules were intended to ensure an open internet, meaning
that no content could be blocked by broadband providers and that the internet would not be divided into pay-to-play fast lanes for internet and media companies that can afford it and slow lanes for everyone else.
Mr. Pai said he was generally supportive of the idea behind net neutrality
but said the rules went too far and were not necessary for an open internet.
About 800 tech start-ups and investors, organized by the Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator
and the San Francisco policy advocacy group Engine, protested the unwinding of net neutrality in a letter sent to Mr. Pai on Wednesday.
“Rolling back these rules or reducing the legal sustainability of the order will result in a worse internet for consumers
and less innovation online,” Michael Beckerman, chief executive of the Internet Association, said in a statement.
