Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has fired some shots against current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. He took aim at Pai for wanting to eliminate net neutrality rules, saying that the chairman is selling out consumers and entrepreneurs and putting major ISPs on top.
Wheeler said that “ISP monopoly carriers have been trying for four years to get to this point,” pointing to a 2013 story in the Washington Post about how telecom companies were trying to “shift regulation of their broadband businesses to other agencies that don’t have nearly as much power as the FCC.”
Pai has been pushing hard to have net neutrality rules completely eliminated. The vote is scheduled for December 14. In the proposal, the consumer protection responsibility will also shift to Federal Trade Commission. If that wasn’t enough, they will also forbid state and local governments from writing their own net neutrality rules. This paves a completely open path for ISPs to do whatever they want and however they want.
“It is a classic example of regulatory capture, where the regulatory agency bends to the wishes of those they are supposed to oversee,” Tom Wheeler said today during a press conference. This net neutrality change will hurt consumers the most while benefiting large broadband companies, such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and Charter. Wheeler said that by allowing the elimination of net neutrality to go through, it would mean that the big four ISPs will “make their own rules.”
If you’re against this tear down of net neutrality, protestors are organizing peaceful protests in front of Verizon stores. If you want to participate in them, definitely check the page for additional details and locations on when and where they will occur.
