THE ATTACK ON NET NEUTRALITY IS JUST ONE SMALL PART OF A MUCH BIGGER, DUMBER PLAN

December 21, 2017 in News by RBN Staff

 

via: BLACKLISTED NEWS | SOURCE: MOTHERBOARD

 

Internet users have been justly outraged by the FCC’s decision to ignore the public and repeal net neutrality rules. But few media outlets or internet users seem to understand that the net neutrality repeal is just one small part of a massive, larger plan to eliminate nearly all meaningful federal and state oversight of some of the least-liked and least-competitive companies in America.

To be clear: the net neutrality repeal itself is awful policy that ignores both the will of the public and the people who built the damn internet. It eliminates a wide variety of consumer protections that prevent incumbent ISPs from abusing a lack of competition in the broadband market.

Without these rules, ISPs will be able to engage in all manner of bad behavior, from paid prioritization deals that disadvantage smaller competitors, to imposing unnecessary usage caps that their content is allowed to bypass (aka zero rating). Should the FCC’s repeal survive a 2018 court challenge, the only thing standing between you and Comcast’s bad behavior is going to be empty promises from an industry with a long history of ripping you off.

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