老澳门开奖结果

WASHINGTON 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果 commends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today on approving new rules to prevent the digital discrimination of broadband access. The FCC鈥檚 new rules reflect the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 advocacy, calling upon the FCC to adopt a discriminatory impact standard, which will enable the commission to protect consumers who haven鈥檛 been offered high-quality reliable internet 鈥� no matter the reason.

鈥淭he FCC鈥檚 digital discrimination rules will hold internet service providers accountable for putting profit over people, and bring the victims of digital discrimination one step closer to having high-speed, reliable internet,鈥� said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淭he FCC can now uphold what we know to be true: that access to information is critical and should not be restricted based on income or race. We celebrate the FCC establishing rules to ensure fair internet access for all.鈥�

Congress directed the FCC to create regulations to 鈥渇acilitate equal access to broadband鈥� and 鈥減revent digital discrimination鈥� in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Congress adopted this law, on a bipartisan basis, in response to numerous of internet service providers refusing to invest in low-income communities. As a direct result of their failure to invest in 鈥渓ess profitable鈥� communities, the residents of these communities are routinely forced to pay more money for slower service, if they are able to connect at all.

The last public version of these rules were slated to protect millions of vulnerable Americans by enabling the FCC to address internet service provider policies or practices that have a discriminatory impact on protected classes 鈥� even if there is no evidence of intentional discrimination. However, during today鈥檚 vote, two commissioners noted a new provision that will exempt internet service providers who comply with regulations tied to the receipt of certain federal broadband deployment grants from adhering to these rules. This safe harbor could limit the amount of people protected from digital discrimination, and raises concerns regarding our right to access the internet.