How the FCC's plan to kill net neutrality affects you.

In a major win for the telecom industry, Federal Communications
Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced plans to
scrap net neutrality regulations . (HuffPost)

Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai just put a big item on his holiday wish list: having the FCC destroy the net-neutrality rules that it adopted two years ago.

As Pai said in a statement on the FCC’s site, he will have the commission vote at its Dec. 14 meeting on his “Restoring Internet Freedom Order.” The order would repeal what Pai called “heavy-handed, utility-style regulations” that ban internet providers from blocking or slowing legal sites or charging them for faster delivery of their data.

One of Pai’s colleagues responded almost immediately with a contrary, Thanksgiving-themed take. In a statement, commissioner Mignon Clyburn called Pai’s plan “a cornucopia full of rotten fruit, stale grains and wilted flowers topped off with a plate full of burnt turkey.”

But as Clyburn’s pithy protest noted, a 3-2 Republican majority now controls the FCC. Pai’s repeal plan, due to be released in detail Wednesday, will almost certainly pass.

The story certainly won’t end there, and there will be plenty of lawsuits fighting the changes. In the meantime, Pai’s move could result in an internet of asterisks and dollar signs, where some sites are slower because they don’t pay your provider for priority delivery. Other sites will have to pay extra fees, which they will then pass on to the consumer.





By Rob Pegoraro.
Full story at Yahoo News.