A member of the Federal Communications Commission who previously opposed the so-called “net neutrality” regulations recently adopted by bureaucrats – and already under court challenge like too many previous related rules – says he foresees a future where rule-makers will want to regulate websites based on political content.
Comments from FCC member Ajit Pai were reported by CNS News and came from his appearance at an annual “Right Online” conference in Washington D.C.
He said the changes reclassify Internet providers as “utilities” and make them subject to all related regulations. Because of these proposed changes, Pai says the future may not be pretty.
“I could easily see this migrating over the to the direction of content… What you’re seeing now is an impulse not just to regulate the roads over which traffic goes, but the traffic itself,” Pai warned. “It is conceivable to me to see the government saying, ‘We think the Drudge Report is having a disproportionate effect on our political discourse. He doesn’t have to file anything with the FEC. The FCC doesn’t have the ability to regulate anything he says, and we want to start tamping down on websites like that.'”
Net Neutrality has been passed twice before by the FCC, and both times it was struck down by federal courts. There’s a very good chance that it will be struck down again by federal judges.
However, it’s a chilling thought to consider that the government could overrule our First Amendment rights of free speech. Do you think the latest version of “Net Neutrality” has a realistic chance of becoming law, or is it just another liberal pipe dream?
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