A Reader on Net Neutrality and Restoring Internet Freedom

In December 2017, the Federal Communications Commission adopted its landmark Restoring Internet Freedom Order that repealed the public utility-like regulations which were applied to broadband Internet service providers by the Obama Administration’s FCC. The Restoring Internet Freedom Order’s return to a light-touch national broadband Internet policy fosters free market competition and helps to secure the Internet’s future. The FCC’s action enhances consumer welfare and encourages economic investment and technological innovation by all the participants in the Internet ecosystem. Importantly, the FCC’s decision also establishes a regulatory framework that ensures consumers are protected from anticompetitive conduct as well as from unfair and deceptive trade practices.

In the context of offering a convincing defense of the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order, this volume provides a wealth of information and key insights into the long-running debate surrounding “net neutrality” regulation. The selected writings in this Reader explore both legal and policy rationales that support the FCC’s December 2017 action. They explain why the FCC’s pro-consumer, pro-investment, pro-innovation approach to regulation of broadband Internet services that was adopted in the Restoring Internet Freedom Order should be preserved.