US Senate Votes To Restore Net Neutrality

US Senate Votes To Re-instate Net Neutrality

One of the biggest internet stories of 2017 was the decision in the US to repeal net neutrality. We have spoken regarding this at various times during the repeal of the protections, but we will recap them in brief for you.

For a long time, it was known that the FCC in America was not keen on the net neutrality rules. These rules were in place to ensure that internet service providers could not give ‘preferential treatment’ of data from particular websites for consumers. In a nutshell, you got all the data as quickly as possible from wherever you were getting it. In November 2017, the FCC finally announced its plans to officially repeal the order. This rather cynically was done just days before the biggest holiday in America (Thanksgiving). I have always felt that this date was deliberately chosen as it only gave those looking to protect it 2 weeks (during a holiday) to organize resistance.

With voting going down party lines, Net Neutrality was officially repealed and formally came into place last February.

What happens next?

The decision was expected but was still very much against the significant wish of the vast majority of online business and consumers. What didn’t help was that within days of the vote passing the FCC chairman posted a video mocking those who opposed the repeal.

Since then, lobbyists have been working hard to try and get the protections reinstated and a major step has just been achieved in that regard. In a report via the Verge, the US Senate has just voted 52-47 to reinstate net neutrality. Before you start celebrating though, this is just the first step of what will be a long political process.

The biggest issue lies in that the Republican Party in the US supports the removal. As such, in a formal 2nd vote required to take it to the next step with the house currently under their control (and by a significant margin) even if all Democrat members voted in support of net neutrality, it would still need at least 22 Republicans to vote against the party line. Even if that was to happen, the final decision still really stands with the President who can either support or veto the decision.

In truth, this is a massive long shot. One that probably has no hope of passing. There is, however, a slither of hope and given that we at eTeknix strongly believe in net neutrality, it’s one which we will monitor closely.

What do you think? Are you a supporter of net neutrality? If you are not, why? In addition, do you think this has a chance of passing? – Let us know in the comments!