The discarding of net neutrality regulations is the most significant and controversial action by the F.C.C. under Mr. Pai. In his first 11 months as chairman, he has lifted media ownership limits, eased caps on how much broadband providers can charge business customers and cut back on a low-income broadband program that was slated to be expanded to nationwide carriers.
His plan for the net neutrality rules, first outlined early this year, set off a flurry of opposition. Critics of the changes say that consumers may have more difficulty finding content online and that start-ups will have to pay to reach consumers. In the past week, there have been hundreds of protests across the country, and many websites have encouraged users to speak up against the repeal. After the vote, numerous groups said they planned to file a lawsuit challenging the change.
The five commissioners were fiercely divided along party lines. In front of a room packed with reporters and television cameras from the major networks, the two Democratic commissioners warned of consumer harms to come from the changes.
Video
What Is Net Neutrality?
The F.C.C. voted to dismantle rules that require internet providers to give consumers equal access to all content online. Here’s how net neutrality works.
By AARON BYRD and NATALIA V. OSIPOVA on Publish Date November 21, 2017.
Mignon Clyburn, one of the Democratic commissioners, presented two accordion folders full of letters in protest to the changes, and accused the three Republican commissioners of defying the wishes of millions of Americans.
“I dissent, because I am among the millions outraged,” said Ms. Clyburn. “Outraged, because the F.C.C. pulls its own teeth, abdicating responsibility to protect the nation’s broadband consumers.”
Brendan Carr, a Republican commissioner, said it was a “great day” and dismissed “apocalyptic” warnings.
“I’m proud to end this two-year experiment with heavy-handed regulation,” Mr. Carr said.
During Mr. Pai’s speech before the vote, security guards entered the meeting room at the F.C.C. headquarters and told everyone to evacuate. Commissioners were ushered out a back door. The hearing restarted a short time later.
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
Despite all the uproar, it is unclear how much will change for internet users. The rules were essentially a protective measure, largely meant to prevent telecom companies from favoring some sites over others. And major telecom companies have promised consumers that their experiences online would not change.
Mr. Pai and his Republican colleagues have echoed the comments of telecom companies, who have told regulators that they weren’t expanding and upgrading their networks as quickly as they wanted to since the creation of the rules in 2015.
“There is a lot of misinformation that this is the ‘end of the world as we know it’ for the internet,” Comcast’s senior executive vice president, David Cohen, wrote in a blog post this week. “Our internet service is not going to change.”
But with the F.C.C. making clear that it will no longer oversee the behavior of broadband providers, telecom experts say, the companies could feel freer to come up with new offerings, such as faster tiers of service for business partners such as HBO’s streaming service or Fox News.
Such prioritization could stifle certain political voices or give the telecom conglomerates with media assets an edge over rivals.
Consumer groups, start-ups and many small businesses say there are examples of net neutrality violations by companies, such as when ATT blocked FaceTime on iPhones using its network.
These critics of Mr. Pai, who was nominated by President Trump, say there isn’t enough competition in the broadband market to trust that the companies will try to offer the best services for customers. The providers have the incentive to begin charging websites to reach consumers, a strong business model when there are few places for consumers to turn when they don’t like those practices.
“Let’s remember why we have these rules in the first place,” said Michael Beckerman, president of the Internet Association, a trade group that represents big tech firms such as Google and Facebook. “There is little competition in the broadband service market.”
Advertisement
Continue reading the main story
Mr. Beckerman said his group was weighing legal action against the commission. Public interest groups including Public Knowledge and the National Hispanic Media Coalition said they planned to challenge Mr. Pai’s order in court. Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York attorney general, also said he would file a lawsuit.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers, and some Republicans, have pushed for Congress to pass a law on the issue, if only to prevent it from flaring up every couple of years at the F.C.C. — and then leading to a court challenge.
One Republican commissioner, Mike O’Reilly, said he supported a federal law created by Congress for net neutrality. But he said any law should protect the ability of companies to charge for faster lanes, a practice known as “paid prioritization.”
Any legislation action appears to be far off, however, and numerous online companies warned that the changes approved on Thursday should be taken seriously.
“If we don’t have net neutrality protections that enforce tenets of fairness online, you give internet service providers the ability to choose winners and losers,” Steve Huffman, chief executive of Reddit, said in an interview. “This is not hyperbole.”
Netflix, which has been relatively quiet in recent weeks about its opposition to the change, said that the decision “is the beginning of a longer legal battle.”
We’re disappointed in the decision to gut #NetNeutrality protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large small, to oppose this misguided FCC order.
Omarosa Manigault, director of communications for the White House Public Liaison Office, attends the daily news briefing on Oct. 27. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Omarosa Manigault: the villain, the honorable, the unemployed.
After just under a year of serving as the White House’s director of communications for the Public Liaison Office — while doing a scant amount of actual liaisoning — Manigault has left the building. And the whiff of drama is trailing in her wake. Whether she strutted out of the West Wing with stilettos blazing or was escorted out by security, one thing is clear: She made her mark.
Staying true to her reality-show roots, Manigault, who first stole hearts and spurned haters when she arrived on the scene as the devil du jour of “The Apprentice,” never let her hefty title or proximity to the president outshine her story line.
So as the postmortems of Manigault’s tenure in the White House begin to pile up, we offer a timeline of the former Trump insider’s greatest (or worst) hits. Consider this an unofficial outline for Manigault’s next book, one of the “other opportunities” she plans to pursue, according to a person close to her.
February 2016: Tamara Holder vs.Manigault. While just a regular ol’ Trump supporter appearing on cable news to burnish her former boss’s credentials, Manigault calls out Holder, a Fox News contributor and critic of Trump, for having “big boobs.”
June 2016: The former “Apprentice” star, still without an official role in the presidential campaign, dubs herself Trump’s “Valerie Jarrett,” telling a crowd of women at a business conference that she was “the person who pulls him back when he goes too far.” She adds, “I told him to stop calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas.” (Sage advice that obviously had an expiration date.)
July 2016: While serving as then-candidate Trump’s director of African American outreach, Manigault, who is an ordained minister, gets engaged to Pastor John Allen Newman of Jacksonville, Fla. The two have been dating for less than a year.
January 2017: Manigault officially joins the White House team.
February 2017: Manigault vs. Nordstrom shoppers. While hunting for a wedding dress, Manigault is accosted by two women who aren’t fans. “These fat ladies won’t stop following me,” a person recalls Manigault telling employees at the Tysons Corner shop. One of the women allegedly calls the White House staffer “Trump’s whore.” Security is called.
Later in February 2017: Manigault vs. journalist April Ryan. The epic beef between the two former pals kicks off when Ryan, a longtime White House correspondent, accuses the White House aide of trying to “physically intimidate” her outside of then-press secretary Sean Spicer’s office. Ryan adds that Manigault verbally threatened her, to which the White House aide responds, “Fake news!”
April 2017: Manigault dips her toe back into the reality pond with an appearance on TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress.” According to White House financial disclosures, in exchange for her appearance, she “received a wedding package which included a wedding dress, custom veil, and accessories with an estimated value of $25,000.”
June 2017: Manigault vs. the Congressional Black Caucus. In an attempt to actually liaise and invite caucus members to the White House, the Trump aide still manages to ruffles feathers. The former reality-TV star signs the invitation to legislators as “the Honorable Omarosa Manigault,” a honorific that is generally not used when referring to oneself.
August 2017: Manigault vs. the National Association of Black Journalists. During a contentious appearance at the group’s convention in New Orleans, Manigault tells the crowd during a panel discussion about her work in the White House, saying: “I fight on the front lines every day. If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” Things do not go well.
September 2017: Manigault vs. April Ryan (again). During the Congressional Black Caucus’s annual gala, Ryan and her co-host, comedian Anthony Anderson, joke that Manigault had “some trouble getting in at the door.” Although it turns out she was there, the White House aide and Ryan later go at it on Twitter. Manigault claims that the veteran reporter’s “big break” came because of her and Trump. Ryan responds, in part, “You need to worry about your job and why the entire room booed you last night!”
December 2017: The White House announces that Manigault has tendered her resignation. The reality-show alum remains uncharacteristically silent on Twitter. But Ryan, her former pal, does not. According to the White House journalist, Manigault was fired by John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff. Manigault is nothappy, to say the least, according to Ryan.
