The fight for an open and equitable internet in America is a perpetual saga, a legislative pendulum swinging between robust protections and sweeping deregulation. Net neutrality, the principle that internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all data on the internet equally, without discrimination or charging differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication, has been at the heart of this enduring struggle. While federal rules have repeatedly been established only to be dismantled, a new wave of state-level initiatives is emerging as the crucial bulwark against a potentially closed internet.
The Federal Rollercoaster: A Decade of Deregulation
The past fifteen years have seen federal net neutrality rules appear and vanish with alarming regularity. Under President Barack Obama, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first introduced the Open Internet Order in 2010, aiming to prevent ISPs from blocking or throttling lawful internet traffic. This foundational rule, however, was quickly challenged and blocked by courts.
A Brief History of Open Internet Orders
An updated and more robust framework was passed by the FCC in 2015, classifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, granting the commission stronger regulatory powers. This victory for open internet advocates was short-lived, as the rules were famously overturned in 2017 during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Despite a brief resurgence in 2024 that saw the rules reinstated, this triumph lasted mere months before a court again struck them down, setting the stage for a challenging year for broadband regulation.
The Latest Blow: FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete”
Rather than contest the court’s latest ruling, the Trump administration’s FCC, under Chairman Brendan Carr, has preemptively removed the net neutrality rules entirely, bypassing any opportunity for public comment. This move is a cornerstone of Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative, a broad effort to eliminate what he deems “unnecessary” regulations across the telecommunications sector.
The Battle Lines Drawn: ISPs vs. Advocates
The debate over net neutrality is sharply divided, with powerful industry players on one side and consumer advocacy groups on the other.
Industry’s Stance: “Burdensome” Regulations
ISPs have consistently argued that net neutrality rules are onerous and stifle innovation. Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO of USTelecom, for instance, characterized the 2024 vote to reinstate the rules as a “counterproductive, unnecessary, and anti-consumer regulatory distraction.” Their argument often centers on the idea that a free market, rather than government intervention, should dictate internet services.
Advocates’ Rebuttal: Ideology Over Impact
However, critics like Matt Wood, vice president of policy and general counsel at the nonprofit Free Press, contend that the financial impact of these rules on ISPs is often minimal. In an interview with The Verge, Wood noted, “A lot of cable and phone companies, when they talk to their business people and then go back to investors and to the financial analysts, they’re saying, ‘Yep, this is how we’re doing it anyway.’ So, I think a lot of their complaints about the supposed ‘burdens’ from these rules are really just ideological in nature.”
The core rationale for regulation, even if ISPs claim theoretical compliance, lies in accountability and transparency. Regulations ensure that consumers, not corporations, ultimately set the terms for internet access, preventing ISPs from unilaterally altering their operational practices to prioritize certain content or services.
Beyond Net Neutrality: A Broader Deregulatory Push
The FCC’s anti-regulatory agenda extends beyond net neutrality, signaling a broader effort to loosen oversight on telecommunications companies.
Eroding Consumer Protections
Chao Jun Liu, senior legislative associate at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), highlights the FCC’s recent reversal of Biden-era telecom cybersecurity rules. Furthermore, Carr’s FCC also rolled back requirements for ISPs to provide clear “nutrition labels” for their broadband pricing, dismissing these transparency measures as “burdensome” for providers.
The Core Demand: Unfettered ISP Control
“There is very much this theme of, ISPs just want to do whatever they want to do with no limits and nobody telling them how to do it, when to do it, [or] on what timeline,” Liu explained to The Verge, encapsulating the underlying desire for unfettered control within the industry.
States Step Up: The New Frontline for an Open Internet
While federal regulations seem to be dissolving, a crucial line of defense for consumers has emerged at the state level.
Pioneering Protections: California’s Gold Standard
State legislators began enacting their own net neutrality laws in the late 2010s, following the federal reversal of the 2015 order. California’s 2018 net neutrality law is widely regarded as the nation’s gold standard, even incorporating policies that were absent from the 2015 federal standards, such as banning zero-rating – a practice that allows ISPs to exempt certain apps or services from customers’ data caps. States like Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey, and Vermont have since adopted similar robust rules.
A Growing Movement: New State Initiatives
The most recent federal repeal has galvanized a new wave of state-level efforts. Maine passed a bipartisan net neutrality bill in June, becoming law without the governor’s signature. Pennsylvania introduced a bill in March to expand “public utility” net neutrality rules to ISPs, with similar legislative pushes occurring in the New York state Senate and Assembly this year.
The Impact of Local Action
These state-level regulations appear to be having a tangible impact. ISPs have largely refrained from openly offering paid prioritization or conventional “fast lanes,” a restraint that net neutrality supporters attribute, at least in part, to the existence and threat of state-level laws. This patchwork of state protections is proving to be a vital, albeit complex, mechanism for safeguarding the open internet in the absence of consistent federal oversight.
The future of America’s open internet now hinges on this dual-level struggle, where federal deregulation clashes with state-led resilience, shaping the digital landscape for generations to come.
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