House Votes to Undo Net Neutrality Rules

The vote is largely symbolic, after all, because President Obama has promised to veto any legislation reversing the rules. Open internet rules were part of Obama’s platform, and many of his supporters have criticized the new rules for not being strong enough. However there remains a opportunity a similar provision could be instated as a “rider” in the funding bill that must be passed previously the end of the day if a government shutdown is to be averted.

The FCC’s rules

Republicans say the FCC’s rules would stifle broadband investment and amount to an unprecedented regulation of the internet, although the rules are largely the same as the ones put into effect by the Bush administration’s FCC in 2005. Those rules were thrown out in court in 2010, on the grounds the FCC hadn’t built them on proper legal authority.

“These new regulations will cause more harm than good by stifling technology, investments, and jobs,” Upton said. “It will harm the network core of the internet, and in a nutshell threaten the architecture that web providers on the edge depend on.”