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1 1 (April 3, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govzbk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Conresioa Reeac Seric Updated April 3, 2019 Access to Broadband Networks: Net Neutrality The move to place restrictions on the owners of the networks that comprise and provide access to the internet, to ensure equal access and nondiscriminatory treatment, is referred to as net neutrality. While there is no single accepted definition of net neutrality most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that comprise and provide access to the internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network; and should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network. Determining the appropriate framework to ensure an open internet is central to the debate over broadband access, and is an issue that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been grappling with for decades. Some policymakers contend that more proscriptive regulations, such as those contained in the FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order (2015 Order), are necessary to protect the marketplace from potential abuses which could threaten the net neutrality concept. Others contend that existing laws and the current, less restrictive approach, contained in the FCC's 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order (2017 Order), provide a more suitable framework. There is also a growing consensus that Congress should amend the 1934 Communications Act, as amended, (Communications Act) to address the debate. The FCC 2015 Open Internet Order The FCC in February 2015, adopted the Open Internet Order to establish a regulatory framework to address access to broadband internet access service (BIAS), that is, the retail broadband service Americans buy from cable, phone, satellite, and wireless providers. The 2015 Order which applies to both mobile as well as fixed BIAS included provisions that reclassified BIAS as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act; placed a ban on blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization; created a general conduct standard; enhanced transparency requirements; permitted providers to engage in reasonable network management and provide specialized services (e.g., heart or energy consumption monitors); and in general did not apply the rules to internet interconnection. The FCC 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order In December 2017 the FCC vacated the 2015 Order and adopted a new framework (2017 Order) that reclassifies BIAS and embraces a less proscriptive approach. The 2017 Order, which went into effect on June 11, 2018, among other things: restores the classification of BIAS as an information service under Title I and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) authority; removes the no blocking, no throttling, and no paid prioritization rules; eliminates the general conduct standard; removes FCC authority over internet interconnection; expands the public transparency rules by requiring internet service providers to publicly disclose information about their network management practices including blocking, throttling, paid prioritization, and commercial terms of service; and preempts local and state laws that conflict with this framework. Selected Policy Issues As Congress continues to debate what the appropriate framework should be for broadband access, some of the major policy issues focus on: the regulatory classification of BIAS; the role of the FCC versus the FTC; the impact of paid prioritization; and the role of the states. Regulatory Classification-Title I versus Title II. The FCC derives its authority to establish its policies and regulations from the Communications Act. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 added the definitions of information service and telecommunications service to the Communications Act and applied the law to these services in different ways. Telecommunications service providers must be treated as common carriers under Title II of the act, which grants the FCC broad regulatory powers. Information service providers are defined under Title I, but may not be regulated as common carriers, and the FCC's authority over those services is more circumscribed. There is no provision in the current statute defining BIAS, but most agree that BIAS arguably could be interpreted as a telecommunications or an information service. This had led to one of the most contentious issues surrounding the net neutrality debate: Under which definition should BIAS fall? The FCC chose, when adopting the 2015 Order, to classify BIAS as a telecommunications service placing it under the extensive regulatory framework, originally established to regulate monopoly voice telephone service, of Title II. On the other hand, the FCC, when it adopted the 2017 Order, reversed that classification and reclassified BIAS as an information service, effectively limiting the FCC's authority to regulate BIAS directly. The FCC's change in the classification of BIAS in less than a three-year period, has reopened the debate over whether congressional action is needed to provide clarity and stability. There is increasing agreement that legislation to outline regulatory authority and provide a stable framework for BIAS is desirable, but the specifics remain elusive. Role of the FCC versus the FTC. The FCC, an independent regulatory agency, regulates interstate wire and radio communications as delineated in the Communications Act. The FCC generally promulgates and enforces rules/regulations using its public interest standard, to establish regulatory frameworks as applied to the communications sector. The FTC has broad authority to https://crsreports.congr

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