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. Now, the new President Joe Biden appointed FCC member Jessica Rosenworcel as chair of the Commission. This is a big step in bringing back net 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.
Network neutrality is a very simple idea: ISPs should treat all data that travels through their networks fairly, without discriminating against certain applications or specific applications, sites and services. Today's commercial Internet started with what we now call net netrality 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.
Without internet neutrality, we would not have Amazon, Netflix, Facebook or Google. We may not even have the Web as we know it today.
Millions of Americans, in part because of the ban on net neutrality, do not have access to broadband Internet. According to report ευρυζωνικής ανάπτυξης του 2020 της FCC, 21,3 εκατομμύρια Αμερικανοί στην ύπαιθρο της χώρας δεν έχουν πρόσβαση σε ταχύτητες λήψηInternet speed of at least up to 25 Mbps, which is a recommended speed for working from home and online 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 what net neutrality is all about. 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" funds are to help them schoolchildren to 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 bring connectivity to every home without 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.
