Nominate FCC Commissioner For Net Neutrality Reinstatement: Groups to Biden

On Monday, more than 50 US groups urged President Joe Biden to nominate the FCC Commissioner so that the current administration can reinstate net neutrality.

Net Neutrality for All in the US

The FCC under former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, adopted net neutrality rules in 2015. These rules made sure that ISPs could not block or throttle traffic, or offer paid fast lanes. In 2017, under President Trump, FCC overturned these protections.

Groups such as The American Civil Liberties Union, American Libraries Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation and others said Biden should act quickly.

"Given the legislative calendar and the diminishing number of days for hearings and confirmation votes, we have reached a critical point to guarantee the agency charged with ensuring affordable communications access can do its work during your administration," the groups wrote.

Incidentally, Biden has not yet nominated a candidate for the fifth seat on the commission. Right now, the commission stands deadlocked 2-2 between Democrats and Republicans. Also, Biden has not yet tapped a permanent chair for the US telecom regulator.

The letter, also signed by Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Mozilla, Public Citizen and the National Hispanic Media Coalition, cited other key FCC issues. These issues include revisiting a low-income subsidy program, setting rules for new broadband infrastructure and revising media ownership rules.

Biden tapped Jessica Rosenworcel as the acting FCC chair in January. However, lawmakers and others have asked Biden to tap either Rosenworcel or other candidates fast.

Net neutrality supporters say the protections will ensure a free and open internet. However, broadband and telecom trade groups argue their legal basis from the pre-internet era was outdated and would discourage investment.