FCC, Others Knock Down Assertions Net Neutrality Repeal Took Effect Monday
FCC net neutrality regulatory rollback didn't take effect Monday, said the commission and others, after some said it had. "None of the substantive provisions of the FCC’s internet freedom ruling and orders take effect until the transparency rule is cleared…
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by the Office of Management and Budget and the FCC announces an effective date in the Federal Register," an agency spokesman told us. "All that takes effect today is a title change for Part 8 of the rules, from 'Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet' to 'Internet Freedom,' and the retention of statutory authority for two other sections." The FCC deregulation won't take effect for "weeks, at a bare minimum," said Mozilla fellow Gigi Sohn. Seeking support for a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval, some lawmakers -- including Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, in tweets (here and here) and Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., in an email -- said the FCC was officially repealing net neutrality regulations Monday. A Markey aide acknowledged the new changes "are essentially bureaucratic," with the net neutrality repeal awaiting further actions. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld cited confusion from an FCC Feb. 22 FR notice that said the effective dates were April 23, except for certain amendatory instructions delayed until the agency publishes a new FR document announcing OMB approval of information collection duties, and that added: "The Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order will also be effective upon the date announced in that same document." Until these steps occur, the FCC is saying "nothing actually happens. Zip. Nadda. Zero," blogged Feld. Calling the delay "highly unusual," he said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai "is taking his own sweet time restoring that Internet freedom he claimed to be so obsessed about back in December." Sohn said, "It’s important for people to know the rules are still in effect, so Republicans can’t come back in a month and say the internet hasn’t died ... and everything will be fine without the rules." A Mozilla blog noted "procedural steps remain" and cited a February poll it and Ipsos did that it said showed "Americans across the political spectrum overwhelmingly want strong net neutrality protections." It quoted Sohn saying "78% of Americans, including 84% of adults under the age of 35, believe that equal access to the internet is a right.”