- FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has launched his press to repeal net neutrality rules, posting an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal and circulating an order to commissioners to end regulation that he says is micro-managing the Internet.
- The agency will vote Dec. 14 on eliminating the regs, and a success will mean "Washington will return to the bipartisan approach that made the Internet what it is today," Pai writes.
- Pai voted against the rules that passed with a 3-2 margin in February 2015 and reclassified broadband services under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. At the time, Pai said "If you loved Ma Bell in the 20th century, you will love Pa Broadband in the 21st."
- But proponents of the rules say they're necessary to protect online access, with Internet service more of a utility than a luxury now, and acting to prevent large companies from setting up pay-to-play express lanes on the Internet, or blocking or speed-limiting content from rival providers.
- Pai started his press in earnest in April, laying out how he would urge a return to a "light-touch" stance and reclassify Internet service providers as Title I services. And he spoke of such a move Jan. 23 when newly inaugurated President Trump named him to lead the agency.
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