Net Neutrality supporters are upping their game in the battle with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) over the basic rights of the internet.
The net neutrality was set of laws that required from internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally. That meant that every person has the same access to information on the internet no matter which service provider or internet packet they use.
However, as the Trump administration came to the White House, and with both Senate and Congress being with Republican majority, those rules set by former President Barack Obama were immediately revoked.
The reversal of the rules was published in the Federal Register Thursday, with implementation period of 60 days.
This has allowed for net neutrality supporters to mount legal challenges to the action.
According to The Hill, a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general, public interest groups and internet companies have vowed to fight in the courts. Twenty-three states, led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, have already filed a lawsuit.
The backup plan for these twenty three states is that every one of them will pass a separate net neutrality state law
“An open internet, and the free exchange of ideas it allows, is critical to our democratic process. Repealing net neutrality will allow internet service providers to put corporate profits over consumers by controlling what we see, do, and say online,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “Consumers and businesses in New York and across the country have the right to a free and open internet, and our coalition of Attorneys General won’t stop fighting to protect that right.”
Meanwhile on another battlefield Democrats in Congress managed to secure enough support to force a vote on a bill which will erase the FCC’s vote and will return the net neutrality rules.
The Hill reported that the new bill is pushed by Senator Ed Markey who is using a legislative tool called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to roll back the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality.
This means that the Senate has 60 legislative days to move on the CRA bill before the implementation is done.
Republican Senator Susan Collins has joined the Democrats in their efforts to save net neutrality, now only one more vote is needed so the bill can pass the chamber.
“The internet doesn’t belong to big internet service providers and special interests who want to turn it into a toll road where consumers will pay more while the biggest corporations get to ride in the fast lane,” Markey said in a statement Thursday.
“With only 60 legislative days to find one more vote, I call on my Republican colleagues to join us and the vast majority of Americans who want the internet to remain free and open and a level playing field for everyone.”
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