The goal of Net Neutrality is to stop the trend toward the Internet being divided into two lanes: a fast one that gives speedy access to the one percent along with big bucks for the big Internet Service Providers, and a slow one for the rest of us. Biden advocated for Net Neutrality in his campaign and made some moves in that direction early on, but his nomination for the deciding FCC post has been stalled in the Senate since January.
A Trump-era bureaucrat, Ajit Pai, undid FCC oversight of net neutrality issues; he was subsequently booted, but the agency is now impotent because of a 2-2 commission tie which can't be fixed given the stalling of Biden's nomination for a fifth FCC commissioner. A bill to replace bureaucratic oversight with a net neutrality law was crafted by Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) and it appeared to have the votes for passage by June. And then Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who is 82, fell and broke his hip.
So, hope is not dead for an Internet that serves the interest of all of us, but time is running out. It may just be a matter of getting Sen. Leahy out of bed before the November mid-terms. (Give him a call, Joe.)
Some Net Neutrality Links:
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