Trump's FCC boss has reportedly laid out his plan to undo net-neutrality laws, and he may reveal it soon
Politico's Margaret McGill and Alex Byers, The Wall Street Journal's John McKinnon, and Reuters' David Shepardson all cite multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting. The reports say that Pai could make his plans public as soon as late April, though they may come later. The FCC's next open meeting is scheduled for April 20.
According to the reports, Pai said that he wants to maintain the basic principles of the net-neutrality laws - which legally prevent internet providers from blocking, throttling, or giving faster speeds to certain content on their networks for financial gain - but aims to shift enforcement of those policies to the Federal Trade Commission.
Pai reportedly asked groups representing major internet providers to commit to abide by those net-neutrality principles in writing, which he feels will allow the FTC to punish those companies that do not stand by those pledges for "deceptive or unfair practices."
Pai and Republican commissioner Michael O'Rielly currently hold a 2-1 majority at the agency. The FCC normally consists of five commissioners, but President Donald Trump has yet to nominate people for the two open seats.
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The context
The net-neutrality laws passed during the Obama administration, formally known as the 2015 Open Internet Order, were approved in a 3-2 vote along party lines in February 2015, after months of heated debate and public outcries.
Supporters of the net-neutrality laws say they prevent ISPs from engaging in anticompetitive practices, such as throttling or blocking certain websites, that would effectively allow them to play favorites, and potentially give their own services a technical advantage.
Pai voted against the net-neutrality order as a commissioner at the time, saying that the laws were "trying to solve a problem that didn't exist." He says that the greater regulatory overhead involved with the Title II classification has prevented ISPs from investing in their networks, though that particular point still seems somewhat unclear.
Pai has said previously that he wants to maintain a "free and open internet," but he has long disputed the necessity of the Title II rebranding. Moving authority over ISPs' practices to FTC would be a return to the way ISPs were enforced prior to the 2015 order.
That said, it's unclear if simply asking ISPs to promise they won't manipulate traffic would allow the FTC to enforce them with Title II still in place. By law, the FTC is forbidden from regulating common carriers, which all ISPs are considered under the 2015 order.
Nevertheless, if Pai chooses not to enforce ISP practices while they are subject to Title II, it's remains to be seen how much regulatory scrutiny they'd legally have to face under his reported plans.
This debate isn't particularly new, as internet providers and many conservatives have called for regulation of ISPs to move back to the FTC in recent years. Net-neutrality advocates, meanwhile, argued for years prior to the order that Title II classification is the only way to legally uphold net-neutrality laws.
Past attempts at similar net-neutrality laws were shot down in court in part because ISPs were considered "information service providers" at the time under Title I of the Communications Act. Internet providers have challenged the current Title II order in court, but have not succeeded in overturning them.
Any attempted changes to the laws are likely to result in more vocal debate. The FCC said it received nearly 4 million public comments on net-neutrality before the 2015 order's passing.
Nevertheless, the move would be the latest in Pai's and the GOP's ongoing dismantling of Obama-era internet regulations. Earlier this week, Trump formally reversed a set of online-privacy laws that would've required ISPs to obtain your permission before sharing your web-browsing data with advertisers.