Washington State counters FCC Net Neutrality (NN) Repeal

Two very important things occurred this day of June 12, 2018…

• Ajit Pai, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was finally successful in eliminating the rules which prohibited Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from blocking, throttling or prioritizing lawful internet traffic.
• The state of Washington has implemented a counter-measure to the FCC’s NN repeal. Almost three months ago, both the legislature and governor of Washington approved a new law which would to take effect the moment the FCC finalized its repeal.

Wait, what the Net Neutrality (NN) are you talking about?

The concept behind NN is to make the broadband industry deregulated, meaning:

• ISPs are now capable of throttling your internet speeds.
• Blocking website access to sites other than what’s intended for Major ISP and Government agendas.
• Paid prioritization by large companies which makes the speed of their website or online business, data transfer rates faster in comparison to the websites or online business whom cannot afford to compete.

You could smell big trouble brewing and luckily so did Washington state, which enacted a law that:

“Prohibits home and mobile Internet providers from blocking or throttling lawful Internet traffic and from charging online services for prioritization”

which took effect today June 12, 2018. Vermont, Hawaii, Montana, New Jersey, and New York are all following Washington states lead! Oregon is not trailing too far behind but their law doesn’t take effect until January 1, 2019.

Net Neutrality (NN) doesn’t sound so bad…

It’s clear after gaining insight on the public’s views on both sides of the NN fence, listening to each person’s ideas and views… NN wasn’t taken very seriously! There were many ignorant responses such as:

“NN is a great thing.”
“The best idea the government has come up with yet.”
Or the best one yet “Maybe this way, more people will focus on life and not pay attention to their phones.”

Little do they know, this NN repeal will affect countless lives, shifting the online world back into the Dark Age! There will be heavy consequences for this decision which FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel stated today (Source):

“Internet service providers now have the power to block websites, throttle services, and censor online content. They will have the right to discriminate and favor the Internet traffic of those companies with whom they have pay-for-play arrangements and the right to consign all others to a slow and bumpy road. Plain and simple, thanks to the FCC’s rollback of net neutrality, Internet providers have the legal green light, the technical ability, and business incentive to discriminate and manipulate what we see, read, and learn online.”

As someone who works for the FCC and voted against NN, you would think that more people would listen and follow but that’s not the case. As for what the other states are going to do, or what will happen as NN is now repealed… It’s a waiting game for the rest of the nation, luckily Washington state is always ahead of the curve.

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