Net Neutrality and the FCC: Public Policy Analysis

In May 2017 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a proposal to repeal net neutrality rules that govern how Internet service providers treat Internet traffic. Under net neutrality rules, companies that sell Internet services to customers must provide access to all Web sites at the same speed. Without net neutrality, Internet service companies can charge consumers or Web sites a premium for high-speed access to certain sites. As required by statute, the FCC opened up the proposed rule for public comment. The rule received an astonishing 21 million comments. However, a study of the comments by Pew Research showed that only 6% of the comments were unique, suggesting that the comments were part of organized campaigns and possibly generated by computer bots. On nine different occasions, more than 75,000 comments were submitted within the same second. Many of the commenter names and e-mail addresses also appeared to be fake. A. Referencing the scenario, describe the function being carried out by the FCC. B. Explain how interest groups can affect the process described in part A. C. In December of 2017, the FCC created the rule ending net neutrality. Explain how Congress could respond to the decision made by the FCC if it opposes the new rule.