I'm old enough to remember when net neutrality was a nonpartisan kind of thing. Those days are long over, and now Republican presidential candidates are running on their plans to
sell off the internet to the highest bidder. Specifically, here's Jeb! Bush and his plan to wreck everything good.
If Jeb Bush eventually overcomes Donald Trump, secures the GOP's presidential nomination, and gets elected, the FCC's still-young net neutrality rules could be eradicated. [Tuesday], Bush issued a promise for regulatory reform, pointing to a "regulatory crisis in Washington" under the Obama administration that includes Dodd-Frank, environment-focused regulations, and the net neutrality framework passed early last year—with the strong support of Obama. Bush has vowed to dismantle the net neutrality rules, which give the commission strict oversight of ISPs and prohibit paid fast lanes, speed throttling, and targeted app blocking.
Specifically, Jeb!'s beef with net neutrality is that the "rules prohibit one group of companies (ISPs) from charging another group of companies (content companies) the full cost for using their services." Right, it's all about the full cost to the poor, beleaguered ISPs to run the internet and not the ability of every content creator (and they're not all companies) to be able to provide their content just like every other creator. But when have Republicans ever been about fairness when there's a buck to be made by a powerful corporation?
Tell Congress to stop the sneak attacks on net neutrality. Tell them to block any appropriations riders that threaten to undermine the FCC and the internet.