Reports: FCC chair to reveal anti-net neutrality plans this week

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to lay out his case this week for repealing the agency’s net neutrality rules, according to multiple media reports.

Pai will give a speech on the future of internet regulation Wednesday at an event hosted by the conservative FreedomWorks group.

According to the reports, Pai will argue in favor of undoing the net neutrality rules, which were put in place during the Obama administration and require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally. Pai could also start formal proceedings to repeal the rules.

{mosads}Pai reportedly wants to preserve the principles of a free and open internet, while repealing a part of the rules that reclassified internet service providers as common carriers — a designation that opened them up to public utility-style regulation. But he may not articulate a replacement for the rules this week.

Details of Pai’s plans are still unclear, but Pai told reporters last week that he he has met with representatives from industries on both sides of the debate to seek “common ground.”

His plan reportedly could repeal the rules in exchange for a framework where companies commit to net neutrality principles voluntarily.

The internet rules have long sparked controversy and were enacted after a long fight that also saw millions file public comments in favor.

But Republicans and the broadband industry have been vocal opponents of the rules, which they see as heavy-handed and wrongly expanding the FCC’s oversight. Telecom companies unsuccessfully challenged the rules in court and have pushed Republicans on repeal.

Consumer groups and Democrats, though, have fiercely defended the rules, saying they are key to insuring internet service providers don’t play favorites with online content and websites.

On Monday, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce tech subpanel, called on Pai to inform Congress on his plans for net neutrality.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) said the chair needed to “fully brief Congress” about any talks with “outside groups on the issue of rolling back, or in any way modifying, the FCC’s current net neutrality protections.”

Many web companies also want to keep the rules in place. Last month, the Internet Association, which represents web giants including Google and Facebook, met with Pai and urged him to keep net neutrality on the books.

But Pai has been an outspoken critic of this rules, opposing them as an FCC commissioner, and has the support of congressional Republicans. Since taking lead of the agency earlier this year, he’s begun chipping away at the rules, ending a probe into data plans critics said violated net neutrality. President Trump also signed a repeal of FCC internet privacy rules stemming from net neutrality.