The newly Republican-controlled FCC took its first steps to scale back net neutrality today by voting to lift transparency requirements from smaller internet providers.
FCC votes to lift net neutrality transparency rules for smaller internet providers
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
Internet providers with fewer than 250,000 subscribers will not be required to disclose information on network performance, fees, and data caps, thanks to this rule change. The commission had initially exempted internet providers with fewer than 100,000 subscribers with the intention of revisiting the issue later to determine whether a higher or lower figure was appropriate.
“The majority has decided to exempt billion dollar companies from being transparent with consumers.”
The rule passed in a 2-1 vote, with Republicans saying the reporting requirements unfairly burdened smaller ISPs with additional work.
Only Democratic commissioner Mignon Clyburn opposed. Clyburn argued that the disclosures were an important consumer protection that was far from overbearing on businesses, particularly ones this large.
“In an ongoing quest to dismantle basic consumer protections for broadband services, the majority has decided to exempt billion dollar companies from being transparent with consumers,” Clyburn said.
Clyburn also argued that the rule would allow larger internet providers to avoid disclosing information by simply breaking their service areas up into different subsidiaries.
Republican commissioner Michael O’Rielly voted in favor of the change, saying he actually would have preferred the subscriber exemption to be even higher.
And commission chairman Ajit Pai said the rules were necessary to protect “mom and pop internet service providers” from “burdensome requirements ... that impose serious and unnecessary costs.”
Pai landed on the 250,000 subscriber figure by pointing to a bipartisan proposal in Congress that would have led to the same exemption. That legislation passed the House but stalled in the Senate. However, that bill also asked the FCC to reassess the 250,000 limit after about six months, whereas this exemption is locked in for five years.
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