The Latest: Critics question FCC net-neutrality process
NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the FCC's vote on eliminating net-neutrality protections for the internet (all times local):
1:40 p.m.
Critics are questioning how the Federal Communications Commission considered its repeal of net-neutrality rules, asking if it abided by its legal obligation to review and consider the public's comments.
The Obama-era rules aimed to guarantee equal access to the internet, curbing the power of internet providers to control where people go and what they do online.
Sean Moulton, open government program manager for the Washington-based nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, says public comments ensure that the public can "have its voice heard and considered."
A Pew Research Center analysis of the nearly 22 million public comments on net neutrality submitted to the FCC found that the vast majority were repeats, with more than 75,000 comments submitted at the exact same second on nine different occasions - possibly indicating these were automated submissions, such as in organized bot campaigns.
The FCC received five times the number of comments it did under the Obama administration and shaved a month off its review time, completing it in four months, Moulton says.
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1:30 p.m.
AT&T and other big internet service providers are applauding the Federal Communications Commission for unraveling sweeping net-neutrality rules that guaranteed equal access to the internet.
The FCC voted 3-2 on Thursday to overturn Obama-era rules that had been designed to prevent providers such as Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Charter from favoring some sites and apps over others.
AT&T Senior Executive Vice President Bob Quinn said in a blog post Thursday that "the internet will continue to work tomorrow just as it always has." Quinn says the company won't block websites and it won't throttle or degrade online traffic based on content.
The providers have argued that the overhaul will allow them to invest more money in broadband infrastructure over time, though it's not clear how their claims will be measured.
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1:15 p.m.
The Federal Communications Commission has voted on party lines to undo sweeping Obama-era "net neutrality" rules that guaranteed equal access to internet.
The agency's Democratic commissioners dissented in the 3-2 vote Thursday.
The FCC's new rules could usher in big changes in how Americans use the internet. The agency got rid of rules that barred companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from playing favorites with internet apps and sites.
The broadband industry promises that the internet experience isn't going to change. But protests have erupted online and in the streets as everyday Americans worry that cable and phone companies will be able to control what they see and do online.
Net-neutrality supporters plan legal challenges. Some Democrats hope to ride that wave of public opinion into the 2018 elections.
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1:10 p.m.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican who says his plan to repeal net neutrality will eliminate unnecessary regulation, called the internet the "greatest free-market innovation in history." He added that it "certainly wasn't heavy-handed government regulation" that's been responsible for the internet's "phenomenal" development. "Quite the contrary," he says.
"What is the FCC doing today?" he asked. "Quite simply, we are restoring the light-touch framework that has governed the internet for most of its existence."
Broadband providers, Pai says, will have stronger incentives to build networks, especially in underserved areas. Ending 2015 net neutrality rules, he says, will lead to a "free, more open internet."
"The sky is not falling, consumers will remain protected and the internet will continue to thrive," Pai says.
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1 p.m.
The FCC meeting was abruptly halted shortly before 1 p.m. during chairman Ajit Pai's remarks and before the vote on net neutrality could take place. Pai said "on the advice of security, we need to take a brief break."
Then the meetings' live feed cut out. Representatives for the FCC could not immediately be reached for comment via email and phone.
Security officials evacuated the hearing room and searched it, then allowed everyone back in.
The meeting and livestream have since resumed.
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12:15 p.m.
Michael O'Rielly, a Republican commissioner appointed by President Barack Obama, says he supports the overturning of net-neutrality rules, calling the FCC's approach a "well-reasoned and soundly justified order."
O'Rielly says he is not persuaded that "heavy handed" rules are needed to prevent "imaginary harm."
The internet, he says, "has functioned without net neutrality rules for far longer than it has without them." The decision, he says, "will not break the internet."
Addressing criticism that the FCC's process was tainted by a large number of fake comments, O'Rielly said the agency is "required to consider and respond to significant comments."
Some comments, he said, to laughter in the room, "referred to me as a potato." He clarified that these comments had also no bearing on the agency's vote.
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12 p.m.
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat who was appointed by President Barack Obama, lambasted the "preordained outcome" of the vote that she says hurts people, small and large businesses, and marginalized populations. She outlined her dissent from prepared remarks before the vote.
The end of net neutrality, she says, hands over the keys to the internet to a "handful of multi-billion dollar corporations."
With their vote, the FCC's majority commissioners, says Clyburn, are abandoning the pledge they took to make a rapid, efficient communications service available to all people in the U.S., without discrimination.
This item, she says, "insidiously ensures the FCC will never be able to fully grasp the harm it may have unleashed on the internet ecosystem."
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11.45 a.m.
Protesters have gathered outside the office of the Federal Communications Commission as it plans to roll back "net neutrality" regulations.
About 60 protesters braved frigid temperatures and biting winds Thursday morning to protest the FCC's expected decision.
The protesters want to keep Obama-era rules that are designed to prevent internet service providers like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Charter from favoring some sites and apps over others. Those rules have been in place since 2015.
Joining the rally was Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, a Silicon Valley congressman who says "this is an issue for the middle class" who will "get nickeled and dimed for extra email use" or downloading videos.
Service providers have argued that the dire predictions about the planned rollback are overblown.
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12:15 a.m.
The federal government is preparing to unravel sweeping net-neutrality rules that guaranteed equal access to the internet. And advocates of the regulations are bracing for a long fight.
The Thursday vote scheduled at the Federal Communications Commission could usher in big changes in how Americans use the internet. It's a radical departure from more than a decade of federal oversight.
The broadband industry promises that the internet experience isn't going to change, but protests have erupted online and in the streets as everyday Americans worry that cable and phone companies will be able to control what they see and do online.
Opponents of the FCC's move plan legal challenges. Some net-neutrality supporters hope to ride that wave of public opinion into the 2018 elections.