With the U.S. Senate voting across party lines to pass a measure repealing the FCC’s revised rules on net neutrality, and ostensibly expressing the majority will of American citizens, cable’s top lobbying organizations were not impressed.
“The U.S. Senate has narrowly approved a largely symbolic measure that only prolongs this decade-long controversy and does not provide consumers any assurances,” said the NCTA in a statement. “It is also remarkable that a significant consequence of the [Congressional Review Act] may be to weaken privacy protections at a time when consumers are growing more worried about privacy and feel government is not doing enough to protect them. The importance of formulating sound internet policy demands that legislators of both parties sit down and work in earnest to craft enduring legislation, and we stand ready to help in this endeavor.”
Added the American Cable Association: "Crafting reasonable, workable, and durable open Internet rules can be done, but it takes a serious effort. Senate Joint Resolution 52, which will not be enacted, is not it.
“Until such time that real 'Net Neutrality' legislation becomes law, customers of ISPs, particularly smaller ISPs, can rest assured they will be able to reach lawful Internet content of their choice and won't find their access blocked, degraded, or otherwise inhibited,” ACA added. “Customers of ACA members are their friends and neighbors, and ACA members pride themselves on giving customers reliable, high-performance broadband service. ACA members have no incentive or ability to harm upstream edge and content providers, and, quite frankly, just as in the video programming world, ACA members are more likely to be leveraged by edge players, to the detriment of ISPs' customers."
Three Republicans broke ranks to join 49 Democrats to vote for the measure, which blocks the Republican-led FCC’s rollback of Title II internet regulations passed three years ago. It’s expected that if the House doesn’t vote the measure down, Donald Trump will not sign it into law.