bipartisan
net neutrality

This is only my opinion and not the representation of Saintel Daily, LLC.

Republicans aren’t exactly happy with the Save the Internet Act, which was introduced by the Democrats last week in both the House and the Senate. Now, I would normally say something like – oh too bad, but I might actually agree with the Republicans in this instance. Did everyone gasp in horror? The Republicans aren’t exactly happy because the Democrats didn’t work with them to come up with a bipartisan bill. To be clear, my stance is that both parties should be working together on this initiative. But at the same time, the Democrats wouldn’t need to come up with a Save the Internet Act if it wasn’t for the Republicans in the first place!

So, while I agree with the idea that there should be more bipartisan bills, I also think that the Republicans need to work with Democrats. Not just the other way. My big problem with this whole net neutrality issue is that all the Democrats have done is introduced a bill that would essentially reinstate a set of rules that were in place in 2015. The 2015 rules prohibited broadband companies from blocking, slowing down or charging more for priority access to websites and services. The real problem isn’t the fact that these rules were instituted in the first place, but rather the fact that the Federal Communications Commission is partisan. Whichever party is in the White House essentially has control over what’s happening in the FCC.

How is that helpful at all? In fact, this particular bill is provoking a lot of backlash from Republicans who say that the FCC shouldn’t have as much authority to police broadband companies. But what difference does it make? The bill would give the FCC the authority to go after broadband providers who don’t play by the rules. But it would also strip out older, antiquated provisions of the classification, which aren’t even relevant to broadband.

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and New York’s Chuck Schumer (who leads the Democrats in the Senate) said last week that they are both confident that it will pass through the House and the Senate. I wonder if they are being a bit naive with this one? Don’t get me wrong, I think that this is a very positive way of looking at everything, but I wonder if they’re over shooting their shot, if you will.

“Last spring, our colleagues in the United States Senate were given that choice to side with the average person, rather than the big special interests, to side with protecting consumers and entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, all but three Senate Republicans voted on behalf of special interests. It passed the Senate, but unfortunately a Republican House of Representatives shelved it. Now we have a Democratic House, and Republicans have a second chance to right the Trump administration’s wrong.”

Chuck Schumer

Even if Republicans believed in this bill, I wonder if they would support the bill, or if they would vote against it to spite the Democrats? Unfortunately, that is the political climate that we live in. It’s funny to me how lawmakers are adamant that we need regulations around the internet, and yet tech giants are running amok when it comes to privacy and data. What’s more important folks?

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