The US Senate has voted to overturn the Federal Communications Commission (FCC’s) rollback of Obama-era Net Neutrality regulations. Three Republicans – Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine – joined the Democratic minority in voting to turn back the FCC’s decision. Despite the positive outcome of the Senate vote, however, the measure faces little chance of passing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, observers have noted.
As previously reported by CommsUpdate, last week the FCC announced that its controversial ‘Restoring Internet Freedom Order’ would take effect on 11 June 2018, effectively abolishing existing Net Neutrality principles.
Net Neutrality is the principle that ISPs must treat all online data equally, and not discriminate or charge differently depending on user, content, website or application.