The former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (simply FCC), Help Pai, was relieved of his post on January 20, 2021, and his departure was welcomed with great enthusiasm throughout the Internet.
His crime? Destroy her internet neutrality. New President Joe Biden has now appointed FCC (Internet neutrality advocate) Jessica Rosenworcel as chair of the Commission. This is a big step towards restoring network neutrality.
For the record, outgoing Presidents Donald Trump and Ajit Pai helped destruction of internet neutrality for the benefit of large ISPs and telecommunications companies, while Rosenworcel fought against their efforts.
Net neutrality is a very simple idea: Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data traveling through their networks fairly, without discriminating against certain applications or against specific applications, websites and services. Today's commercial Internet began with what we now call net neutrality through the Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX).
Without it, instead of the Internet we know and use every day, we'd be stuck on isolated islands of connectivity like the online services of the 80s and 90s, like AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy.
Χωρίς ουδετερότητα του διαδικτύου, δεν θα είχαμε Amazon, Netflix, Facebook or Google. We might not even have had the web as we know it today.
Εκατομμύρια Αμερικανοί, εν μέρει λόγω της απαγόρευσης της ουδετερότητας του διαδικτύου, δεν έχουν πρόσβαση στο ευρυζωνικό Διαδίκτυο. Σύμφωνα με την έκθεση ευρυζωνικής ανάπτυξης του 2020 της FCC, 21,3 εκατομμύρια Αμερικανοί στην ύπαιθρο της χώρας δεν έχουν πρόσβαση σε ταχύτητες λήψης Διαδικτύου τουλάχιστον μέχρι τα 25 Mbps, που είναι μια συνιστώμενη ταχύτητα για την εργασία από το σπίτι και τη διαδικτυακή education. The actual numbers are much worse. THE BroadbandNow research using FCC data found almost double the number, 42 million who do not have broadband access.
In October 2020, when Pai faced the Federal Court's decision to reconsider the impact of neutrality on public safety and the provision of broadband subsidies, he refused to do anything.
Rosenworcel reported then:
"This is crazy. The Internet should be open and available to everyone. That's why theme is net neutrality. That's why people across this country rose up to express their frustration and anger at the Federal Communications Commission when it decided to ignore their wishes to restore net neutrality.”
He continued,
“The FCC makes it easier for broadband companies to block websites, impose slow speeds, and dictate what we can do and where we can go online. It is absurd that this is happening now, according to duration of a pandemic when we rely on Internet access for such a large part of daily life.”
In the short term, Rosenworcel a new broadband program will be launched $ 7 billion. These "E-Rate" chapters are to help students access Wi-Fi. Pai had ruled that these funds could only be used for classrooms. With millions of students stuck at home, Rosenworcel believes some of that money should be used to provide connectivity to any home that does not have internet.
In the long run, if Rosenworcel becomes the permanent head of the FCC, there is no doubt that it will strive to restore pure neutrality.
