The chairman of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday asked chief executives from companies representing the two sides of the net neutrality debate, including Alphabet, Facebook, AT&T and Verizon, to testify at a Sept. 7 hearing.<\/p>\n
The US Federal Communications Commission is considering tossing out 2015 Obama administration net neutrality rules that reclassified internet service like a public utility. The current rules bar providers from blocking or slowing websites, or allowing websites to pay for \u201cfast lanes\u201d over competitors.
\nInternet providers and major tech companies have been sharply divided over the rules. Many internet providers want Congress to step in and write permanent rules, while websites say the Obama era rules are critical to preserving the open internet.
\nThe outcome of the debate could have a major impact on the future of the internet economy and potentially profits of the companies involved.
\nOther chief executives asked to testify include the heads of Comcast Corp, Netflix Inc and Charter Communications Inc.
\nSeveral companies said they were reviewing the letter but none immediately said if they will testify.
\nComcast said it welcomed the hearing and \u201cbelieves the best way to stop the regulatory ping-pong on this important issue is for Congress to enact bipartisan legislation.\u201d
\n\u201cA strong consensus is forming across party lines and across industries that it\u2019s time for Congress to call a halt on the back-and-forth and set clear net neutrality ground rules for the internet,\u201d said Representative Greg Walden, a Republican, who chairs the committee. \u201cThe time has come to get everyone to the table and get this figured out.\u201d
\nDemocrats on the committee want Republicans to invite small businesses and consumers, not just the CEOs from some of the \u201clargest corporations in the world with a combined market capitalization of nearly $2.5 trillion,\u201d said a statement from Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle, both Democrats. Democrats have so far refused to work with Republicans on internet legislation.
\nA group representing major technology firms last week urged the FCC to abandon plans to rescind the rules barring internet service providers from hindering consumer access to web content or offering paid \u201cfast lanes.\u201d
\nMajor internet service have urged the FCC, however, to reverse the rules, even as they vowed not to hinder internet access.
\nIn May, the FCC voted 2-1 to advance Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai\u2019s plan to withdraw the former Obama administration\u2019s order reclassifying internet service providers as if they were utilities.
\nThe FCC is considering whether it has the authority to limit internet providers\u2019 ability to block, throttle or offer \u201cpaid prioritization,\u201d and, if so, whether it should keep any regulations in place.
\nMore than 12 million public comments have been filed on the proposal.
\nThe Internet Association, a group representing Facebook, Google, Microsoft Corp and Twitter Inc, said last week it was \u201copen to alternative legal bases for the rules, either via legislative action codifying the existing net neutrality rules or via sound legal theories offered by the commission.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The chairman of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday asked chief executives from companies representing the two sides of the net neutrality debate, including Alphabet, Facebook, AT&T and Verizon, to testify at a Sept. 7 hearing. The US Federal Communications Commission is considering tossing out 2015 Obama administration net neutrality rules that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[666],"class_list":["post-4906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tech","tag-att-ceos-may-have-to-testify-on-internet-rules"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartabangla.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}