Internet giants on net neutrality repeal: please don't do this

Google, Facebook, Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, eBay, and plenty of others have a message: Net neutrality is good and we should leave it in place.

Why is that worth saying for the umpteenth time? Because the one person who could lead the charge in destroying net neutrality doesn't quite agree. Less than three months into his role as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai is already preparing to reverse the landmark rules implemented under the Obama administration.

And so with another fight on the horizon, The Internet Association (the internet's primary lobbying group) will meet Pai to lodge their hope that he'll abandon efforts (which are reportedly already in the works) to reverse strong net neutrality protections and even remove the FCC entirely from regulating internet service providers.

"The internet industry is uniform in its belief that net neutrality preserves the consumer experience, competition, and innovation online. In other words, existing net neutrality rules should be enforced and kept intact," wrote Michael Beckerman CEO of The Internet Association, which represents a wide variety of companies (including the ones listed above) in an official filing sent to the FCC.

The meeting comes on the heels of reports that Pai recently met lobbyists for internet service providers to begin discussing his plans to roll back net neutrality regulations. Pai, who previously served at the FCC as a commissioner, had been an outspoken opponent of the FCC's actions — in which former chairman Tom Wheeler was able to bring companies that provide internet service under stricter regulation that allowed for strict enforcement of net neutrality rules.

A partisan issue

Net neutrality has been a buzzword (er, phrase?) for more than a decade, but more recently has become a hotly contested — and very politically partisan — issue. The concept of net neutrality centers around keeping the internet an open and unbiased network that doesn't favor particular companies or users over others.

The argument that Pai, Republicans, and the internet service providers have put forward is that the existing rules are unnecessarily broad and that net neutrality can be maintained with far less regulation. To that end, Pai is reportedly looking to not just undo the previous rules but remove the FCC entirely in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC is a different government regulator that tends to have a much lighter touch.

The Internet Association doesn't think that's a very good idea and has called for continued FCC oversight.

"Consumers want and need their internet experience preserved and protected, regardless of the legal or regulatory mechanism," Beckerman wrote. "While [the Internet Association] continues its work to protect consumers by maintaining existing FCC rules, its primary focus is on the end result - meaningful net neutrality rules that withstand the test of time."