PROVIDENCE – “A free and open internet is essential to our democracy and economy,” said Gov. Gina M. Raimondo in a statement on Tuesday following her executive order designed to legally protect net neutrality in Rhode Island.
The Federal Communications Commission’s elimination of federal net neutrality laws had taken effect one day earlier on Monday, after a decision made in December by a split FCC. The decision had been supported and pushed by the head of the FCC, Ajit Pai, a former Department of Justice attorney on the Telecommunications Task Force and former associate general counsel for Verizon Communications Inc. who dealt specifically with regulatory issues and competition matters for the company.
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Raimondo’s executive order requires internet service providers, or ISPs, that contract with the state to commit to the principle of the previously federally mandated net neutrality regulations. The regulations, which had been put in place by the FCC during the Obama administration, had previously prevented ISPs from treating content providers differently. For example, ISPs were prevented from throttling speeds for non-paying content providers, creating priority lanes for paying websites or internet content providers, blocking lawful content from internet users. The previous regulations also prevented ISPs from interfering or unreasonably disadvantaging a customer’s ability to select, access and use broadband internet access.
“Rhode Island was founded on a principle that there is a place here for everyone,” said Raimondo in a statement. “By protecting a free and open internet in our small state, we’re renewing that promise.”
When the FCC overturned the net neutrality laws in December, both Cox Communications Inc. and Verizon supported a change to the regulations. While the companies expressed support of the concept of net neutrality, both had expressed opposition to the regulations that the FCC had put in place earlier. The FCC dubbed the repeal of its regulatory, level-playing field control over ISPs control over user and provider content “restoring internet freedom.”
The FCC’s decision to eliminate the laws essentially removed the ISPs from its legal purview, putting enforcement over the companies to other agencies within the government. Both companies supported a “light-touch” regulatory environment for the internet but supported the decision to eliminate the net neutrality laws put in place.
See Verizon’s official reaction to the FCC’s proposal to rework or repeal net neutrality regulation.
See Cox’s official stance on net neutrality here.
However, more recently, telecom companies and organizations have voiced support of a solution from Congress as states have considered and passed laws on net neutrality in the wake of the federal deregulation.
The New England Cable & Telecommunications Association Inc.’s Vice President & General Counsel Tim Wilkerson said in a statement, “NECTA members support and practice strong, legally enforceable net neutrality protections that ensure an open internet for their customers. Regulating the internet through a disruptive patchwork of state regulations that stop and start at state lines will only harm consumers in Rhode Island and across New England and discourage future investment.”
Verizon referred PBN to a telecom industry trade organization for a stance on the governor’s position, declining to comment directly. The organization, USTelecom, released the following statement on behalf of the telecom industry:
“Broadband providers support an open internet with bright line net neutrality rules, this is not – and never has been – at issue. From the Telecommunications Act of 1996, to Chairman Wheeler’s 2015 Open Internet Order, broadband internet has consistently and most assuredly been considered an interstate service. This is a principle that consistently has been upheld by Supreme Court decisions starting in 2005. We simply cannot have 50 different state regulations governing our internet – consumers expect and demand a single, consistent, common-sense approach. Now, more than ever before, we need Congress to step forward and enact bi-partisan legislation to make permanent and sustainable rules.”
Cox did not respond to PBN’s inquiry on the order by the time of publication.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
