The Republican majority on the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the nation’s net neutrality rules on Dec. 14, 2017. Those regulations, which had been on the books since 2015, prevented Internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from engaging in censorship, or controlling the speed at which consumers access specific websites, apps and other online services. The absence of net neutrality rules now allows broadband providers to charge customers additional fees to gain faster access to specific websites or content, much like cable television.
The FCC’s vote to repeal net neutrality was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 22, which begins a legislative 60-day period where Congress has the power to invoke the Congressional Review Act, where a majority vote in the House and Senate can overturn a federal agency’s policy change. A national coalition of more than 200 groups and companies supporting a free Internet launched Operation #OneMoreVote on Feb. 27, organizing a flood of calls, emails and tweets to legislators, with the goal of securing one more vote needed in the Senate to overturn the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality.
Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Michael Copps, a former FCC Commissioner from 2001-2011, who now serves as a special adviser to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. Here, Copps discusses the importance of net neutrality and the campaign to restore it through congressional action, lawsuits and state legislative initiatives.
MICHAEL COPPS: Fifty senators have signed up in support of passing a resolution of disapproval authorizing this Congressional Review Act. We need 51 to pass the Senate. Everything in this town is partisan but we have Sen. (Susan) Collins who’s a Republican from Maine, and she’s joined most of the Democrats, so we’re at 50, but we’re having a devil of a time trying to find the 51st senator to cast that vote and you know, you could say well, if it passes the Senate that’s fine, but it has to pass the House and that’s true and that would be maybe an even steeper climb. And then to really put it into effect, the president has to sign it. That’s rolling the big rock up the hill, too. But I think this is a fight worth having. And it certainly is a fight worth winning in the Senate. But it draws the people’s attention and the media’s attention a little bit to what’s at stake here. This is an ongoing battle that’s being fought on the congressional front to this resolution of disapproval. And then it’ll be fought in the courts through a lot of suits that will be presented. A lot of jurisprudence is ahead of us. And in the final analysis, it will be fought in the court of public opinion and I think it’s very important that when people cast their votes next time, that they be aware of this issue and the importance of communications and of trying to get a media ecosystem that really serves the needs of the country.
The Internet is so important for so much of our political activity that is taking place right now, and if people aren’t free to go where they want to go, or to use that as a tool for organizing; if they have to always be afraid of gatekeepers – Comcast, or AT&T or Verizon – or one of these companies is going to, or maybe they’re going to interfere with this viewpoint or another viewpoint that they don’t happen to agree with – we’ve had some of that history in the past, even when we had people thinking that net neutrality was going to be here to stay. And now if we repeal the rules, that’s just flashing a green light to all these companies to use the Internet for their own purposes and their own profitability.
The tragedy is this – and it’s a tragedy of history – here you have this open, dynamic technology, probably more dynamic and important than anything since the printing press, to really expand our news and our information, to expand our democracy, to better inform the people. And are we just now going to say OK, we’re just gonna turn this over to the big companies? Are we going to just cable-ize the Internet? That’s really what it is, you know. And who wants to cable-ize the Internet? Who likes paying all those cable bills as they go up and up and up?
Net neutrality is not a guarantor of a truly open Internet, but it’s a prerequisite. It’s a condition of an open Internet.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Michael Copps, I wanted to ask you beyond congressional action that we just talked about, there are lawsuits are being planned to prevent the final repeal of net neutrality. And a fascinating approach is also starting to take root: state legislation that would really anchor the ISPs around the country to state regulations that would continue the protections of net neutrality.
MICHAEL COPPS: Well, several governors – Montana, New York, a few others have already used their executive powers and using their power to contract for services from telecommunications companies and passing executive orders saying, “If you want the state’s business on telecommunications, you have to abide by the net neutrality process.” And I think they have the power to do that. This is something that is going to be fought out in the courts too, the new FCC under Chairman Pai is saying, “No, no, we can pre-empt everything, you know, it’s all federal.” But some of the states are going in this direction and then there are something like 22 state attorneys general going to be on a lawsuit to go beyond that on net neutrality, too.
So yes, once you get outside of this beltway, it’s not a partisan issue.
Learn more about the groups fighting to restore Net Neutrality by visiting Common Cause Media and Democracy Initiative at Commoncause.org/issues/media-and-democracy and Common Cause: Net Neutrality at Commoncause.org/issues/media-and-democracy/net-neutrality; Battle For the Internet at Battleforthenet.com; Protect Our Internet at Protectourinternet.org; and One More Vote Campaign at BattlefortheNet.com/onemorevote/
