Rolling back the net neutrality regulations is one of the most controversial policy changes under the Trump administration. Though the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to repeal the rules, the authority will take some more time to release the final order.
Arstechnica.com reported that the commission under the leadership of Indian American Ajit Pai is making edits in the final order. Pai had released the draft order in November ahead of the vote. The final order should be similar to the draft.
Though the FCC hasn’t made a comment on the final order, a spokesperson told arstechnica.com that the commission was planning to release the order as soon as possible.
Net neutrality activists are likely to file lawsuits against the rules once the final order is made public. The commission is trying to make an error-free order which is more legally defensible.
Apart from this, the concerns raised by commissioners will also be solved in the final order. The commission has already made some changes at the request of the commissioners.
FCC’s chief technology officer, Eric Burger had noted that the draft would allow ISPs to block legal Internet content as long as they disclose the blocking. A change was made in the order to correct the issue. Another change was made at the request of Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly about the commission invoking authority from Section 218 or Title III of the Communications Act to enforce the transparency requirements.
“It’s certainly possible that this document will have more significant changes from the circulated draft stage than we’ve seen in other Pai orders,” Policy Director Matt Wood of advocacy group Free Press told Ars.
“Free Press and others pointed out not just scores of substantive flaws in the commission’s arguments, but a number of procedural errors and notice fouls that frankly cannot be fixed with a post-vote band-aid. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t busily trying to apply those band-aids as we speak,” he added.
Pai, a Republican, had said that rolling back the rules was one of his top priorities after he assumed office last year. In April 2017, he unveiled plans to reverse net neutrality rules that were in place by the Obama administration in 2015.
As expected the FCC voted in favor of repealing the regulation for 3-2 on December 14.