Open Internet Advocates Concerned About Possible FCC Moves

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With a new presidential administration comes the possibility that internet service providers will no longer have to provide the same level of service to all the websites that people visit. Net neutrality has only been an FCC policy for two years, and President Donald Trump’s new FCC chair, Ajit Pai, is an opponent. Marty Newell, with the Rural Broadband Policy Group, tells us the nation’s history in treating telephone service as a utility illustrates the importance of regulating common carriers.

“We’ve moved past where a telephone is a telephone,” Newell said. “Now, the internet is as much that communications tool as anything.”

Newell says monopolies don’t tend to serve consumers well, especially in underserved rural areas. He’s concerned rural businesses who can’t fork over extra fees to internet service providers so people can see their websites could be in trouble.