Many questions have been raised about the direction of U.S. technology policy under the leadership of Donald Trump, and at least one seems to have been answered: Enterprises and consumers can expect a renewed and likely pitched battle over net neutrality in 2017.
That's because Trump's administration is set to appoint FCC commissioner Ajit Pai to the chairman's post, according to multiple reports. Pai is a longtime critic of net neutrality and other regulations passed by the FCC during Barack Obama's two terms as president.
During a speech in December, Pai said the FCC would take a "weed whacker" to existing rules and regulations that inhibit competition, and that net neutrality's "days are numbered," as Ars Technica reports.
The FCC passed net neutrality rules in 2015, which forbid ISPs from blocking or degrading Internet traffic that points to legal content, and from favoring traffic based on payments or other considerations. Critics say the rules, which placed ISPs into the "common carrier" category under Title II of the Communications Act, overreached in that regard.
How quickly could net neutrality be overturned? Since their passing, the rules have survived a lawsuit brought by an array of broadband providers and lobbying groups, but under a Republican-controlled FCC with as ardent an opponent as Pai at the helm, it's not inconceivable to think it could happen sooner than later.
In the short term, another possibility would see the FCC simply declining to enforce the rules, or the Republican-controlled Congress filing a bill that amends Title II in a way that guts the rules.
As much as Pai might want one, an outright repeal of the rules may not sit well in Congress, where despite the controversy over net neutrality, there remains consensus over the value of an open Internet.
The Bottom Line
As weary as some may be of the net neutrality debate after more than a decade of back-and-forth battles, it's more important than ever to have.
Moreover, this go-round should include more than consumer advocacy groups and Internet-based companies such as Netflix on the pro-net neutrality side. Against the backdrop of the rapid rise of IoT (Internet of Things), the app economy and a continued push into the cloud, net neutrality is about far more than how quickly you can stream House of Cards, and should be top of mind in 2017 for enterprises of all sizes. Watch this space.
