– INTERVIEW – ROBERT MCDOWELL – served as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission from June 1, 2006 to May 17, 2013
- Topic: FCC taking first vote on net neutrality rollback
- MCDOWELL’S TAKE on net neutrality rollback vote: “It’s a good thing and not actually a rollback.” The Federal Communications Commission will take its first vote in the coming week on Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal to undo the net neutrality rules put in place in 2015. At the FCC’s open meeting on Thursday, the commission will vote to move forward with the plan to repeal the regulations that reclassified broadband service providers as telecommunications services, and opened them up to tougher regulation from the FCC. By reclassifying the industry, the FCC also gained the legal footing to impose rules on internet service providers prohibiting them from blocking, throttling or prioritizing web content. If the commission moves ahead with the plan on Thursday, the proposal will be opened up to public input.
