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President Joe Biden will sign an executive order this weekend calling on the Federal Communications Commission to restore net neutrality while targeting Big Tech, Internet service providers and Silicon Valley.
According to CNN, the sweeping executive order will do a number of things. This includes encouraging the use of a ‘broadband nutrition label’ for ISPs to clarify provider services (such as the amount of subscription rates and sharing these results with the FCC) and take a closer look at mergers to prevent “murderous acquisitions” (like Facebook’s takeover of Instagram and WhatsApp). Among the policy changes is the reinstatement of various net neutrality rules for ISPs.
The executive order also encourages the FCC to prohibit internet companies from blocking, slowing down, or speeding up certain websites, rules put in place under the Obama administration but reversed under President Trump (former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who ran the agency during the period, stepped down before Joe Biden took office earlier this year.) An attempt to restore net neutrality would likely lead to a legal fight, so it is unclear if or when these changes would be made.
Even still, this could be good news for gamers. ISPs like Comcast and Verizon, under this new executive order, would not be able to exclude certain websites in favor of others. Internet companies should no longer have the legal capacity to send certain content and websites through “fast lanes”.
The executive order will also attack ISP monopolies, where about 200 million people in the United States must choose between one or two providers. Some principles of resorts like apartments are required to register with a provider due to exclusive agreements between owners and ISPs. This causes excessive price hikes, with low-income and marginalized communities paying up to five times more than markets where ISP options are plentiful. The decree seeks to prevent such exploitations while calling for greater transparency in the price comparison between ISPs (so consumers can shop with confidence) and the removal of high termination fees.
Elsewhere in the broad executive order, Biden is seeking to relax rules that prohibit consumers from repairing their own devices, either through a licensed repair shop or through DIY efforts.
The decree does not just tackle the problems of the Internet and technology. He calls for changes in agriculture, health care (to lower the price of prescription drugs), shipping and transportation. You can find out more about the executive order via a fact sheet on the White House website.
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