The Internet - Net Neutrality is dead for Americans: Net Neutrality Repeal Is Official. Here’s How That Could Affect You - by Keith Collins

It’s official. The Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules, which had required internet service providers to offer equal access to all web content, took effect on Monday.

The  rules, enacted by the administration of President Barack Obama in 2015 prohibited internet providers from charging more for certain content or from giving preferential treatment to certain websites.

After the commission voted to repeal the rules in December, it faced a public outcry, legal challenges from state attorneys general and public interest groups, and a push by Democratic lawmakers to overturn the decision. 

The opponents argued that the repeal would open the door for service providers to censor content online or charge additional fees for better service — something that could hurt small companies — and several states have taken steps to impose the rules on a local level.

Still,the repeal was a big win for Ajit Pai, the F.C.C.’s chairman, who has long opposed the regulations, saying they impeded innovation. He once said they were based on “hypothetical harms and hysterical prophecies of doom.”

Read more: Net Neutrality Repeal Is Official. Here’s How That Could Affect You. - The New YorkTimes

USA: Net Neutrality is Dead in the US: FCC Votes to Approve "Internet Freedom" Plan

The Federal Communications Commission just voted to approve a plan that effectively ends net neutrality. The culmination of months of work by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Thursday’s vote means the internet may never be the same again.

Net neutrality is the longstanding principle that internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon — where Pai previously worked as a lawyer before his career at the FCC — cannot play favorites over access to content, create a tiered internet where sites or users that pay more have access to a fast lane, or otherwise control how people get online. 

As expected, the vote was three in favor and two against, split along party lines. Chairman Ajit Pai received the support of both Republican commissioners for his plan, which he made public the week before Thanksgiving. Democratic commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel voted against the plan. The deliberations were interrupted for several minutes when, according to Pai, security advised them to take a recess.

Thursday’s vote reverses the 2015 decision of the Obama-era FCC, which reclassified ISPs as utilities instead of information services under what’s known as Title II regulations. That earlier move came in part because a 2014 court decision found the FCC could no longer impose net neutrality regulations on ISPs unless they were categorized as utilities.

Note EU-Digest: This actually means US internet providers can set pricing now for tall kinds of additional services including the speed you want your internet to connect and process information. It will have a huge impact on what people do online in America. 

In Europe during the summer 0f 2016 hundreds of thousands of Internet users banded together to keep the Internet open and free. Together, we sent a loud, clear message to BEREC, the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications: protect net neutrality. And it worked! BEREC’s final guidelines, which were published on 30 August 2016, offer some of the strongest net neutrality protections we could wish for. 

So long as these new rules are properly enforced by national telecom regulators, they represent a resounding victory for net neutrality. The European public has made clear that it will not leave the future of its digital public space to big telco lobbyists and multi national corporations , but wants to decide for itself. To that end, civil society has to stay watchful and observe that telecom operators don’t violate the new laws. Indeed Europeans are slowly understanding that united we win, and divided we fall.

Read more: Net Neutrality is Dead in the USA: FCC Votes to Approve "Internet Freedom" Plan | Inverse