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Jimbo101

(776 posts)
Fri Jan 20, 2017, 11:59 PM Jan 2017

FCC Tom Wheeler (last day): Trump voters need fast broadband and net neutrality too

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/01/trump-voters-need-fast-broadband-and-net-neutrality-too-tom-wheeler-says/

Donald Trump's election has put Republicans in position to eliminate net neutrality rules and gut the Federal Communications Commission's authority to regulate broadband providers.

But Trump voters need the consumer protections provided by the FCC as much or more than anyone, said Tom Wheeler, whose resignation as FCC chairman takes effect today. Wheeler, a Democrat appointed to the FCC by President Barack Obama, isn't happy about Trump's victory. But in making the case for continued net neutrality rules and consumer protections, he pointed out that Trump voters in rural areas are vulnerable to the actions of major broadband providers.

"The Trump administration campaigned that they are the voice of the forgotten," Wheeler said in a phone interview with Ars yesterday. "Well you know, the half-dozen major carriers [lobbying against FCC regulations] are hardly forgotten."

But so far, signs point to the Trump-era FCC dismantling consumer protections opposed by Internet service providers. Republicans at the FCC and Congress say they intend to repeal or replace net neutrality rules. Trump's transition team is also reportedly pushing a proposal to strip the Federal Communications Commission of its role in overseeing competition and consumer protection and to move those functions to the Federal Trade Commission. Such a major change would require Congressional approval and thus may not happen, but it's worrying to Wheeler nonetheless.

"I think it would be tragic," Wheeler said of taking away the FCC's competition and consumer protection authority. "This is tragic for the American consumer and the competitive marketplace."
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FCC Tom Wheeler (last day): Trump voters need fast broadband and net neutrality too (Original Post) Jimbo101 Jan 2017 OP
sorry tom but trump cares not and his voters wont even notice their internet is taken away nt msongs Jan 2017 #1
Fox and Rush will blame it on liberals and Trump will lie and tell Dustlawyer Jan 2017 #2

Dustlawyer

(10,493 posts)
2. Fox and Rush will blame it on liberals and Trump will lie and tell
Sat Jan 21, 2017, 12:08 AM
Jan 2017

them its better than before, fabulous, and more bigly! In the end he will say liberals are hogging all of the internet!

How much damage will bd caused in the next two years? We had better take the Senate in the mid-terms just in case they haven't stolen everything from us by then!

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