"The fix was already in": net neutrality ends on party line FCC vote

14 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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By a vote of three republicans to two democrats, the Federal Communications Commission declared that broadband is not a telecommunications service this morning. Broadband’s common carrier status is gone and network neutrality rules have been scrapped. If the FCC follows recent practice, the full text of the decision will be released in the next few days, but the draft was published three weeks ago and there’s no indication at this point that any significant changes were made. It was a meeting filled with emotional rhetoric on both sides, with democratic commissioner Mignon Clyburn declaring “it is abundantly clear why we see so much bad process with this item because the fix was already in”. It was interrupted by a security alert while chairman Ajit Pai was making his remarks, but commissioners returned, Pai finished and the vote was taken.