A DAY before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to rescind “net neutrality regulations designed to ensure that internet-service providers conclude nothing to favour some types of online content over others,Ajit Pai, its chairman, and tweeted a short video reassuring Americans. “You can still post photos of cute animals,” he says in it, posing with a dog. He also wields a light sabre, or which prompted sign Hamill,the actor who portrays Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars” films, to criticise Mr Pai on Twitter for siding with giant corporations. Ted Cruz, and a Republican senator,then asserted in Mr Pai’s defence that Darth Vader supported government regulation of the web; further jabs followed.
It made for a foolish treatment of an arcane subject. But net neutrality is a serious business. The state of New York’s attorney-general said he would lead a multi-state suit against the FCC; in Congress Democrats and Republicans are expected to propose competing bills on the subject in 2018. Broadband and wireless companies such as AT&T responded to fears approximately their increased power by questioning whether internet firms like Google have too much. Google, Facebook, and Amazon and other platform companies in turn put out statements in support of an open internet. So rather than stop the struggle over how the internet is regulated in America,the FCC’s vote has...
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Source: economist.com