You have until midnight Eastern Time tomorrow night (Wednesday) to file comments on the Federal Communications Commission plan to deregulate broadband service and roll back net neutrality rules.
There are 21.9 million filings on the FCC's "Restoring Internet Freedom" docket already, blowing away the four million received before the 2015 decision that imposed net neutrality rules. Many comments are apparently from spam bots and form letters, but Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to undo net neutrality rules has received massive attention.
The deadline for initial comments passed on July 17, and the deadline for replies to initial comments was supposed to pass on August 16. But the FCC extended the deadline by two weeks to August 30, partially granting a request for an eight-week extension from net neutrality advocates.
As is standard, comments must be filed by midnight Eastern time on the date of the deadline. Filings in paper format must be made by 7pm ET.
Technically, the docket will remain open after the comment deadline. At the very least, you can expect companies and organizations to make ex parte filings after holding meetings about net neutrality with FCC commissioners or staff. Still, it's best to get your comments on the record before the end of the day tomorrow.
How to file comments
For a guide on how to write a meaningful FCC comment supporting net neutrality, read this recent Ars article. You can file comments on Pai's plan to gut net neutrality rules at this FCC webpage. Click "Express" to write a comment directly into the FCC form, or click "New Filing" to upload documents.
The proceeding concerns a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes eliminating the classification of fixed and mobile Internet service providers as common carriers. The reversal of the common carrier classification would dramatically scale back the FCC's authority to protect consumers from ISPs in multiple ways. Pai's proposal would also either eliminate or weaken the core net neutrality rules that prohibit blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization.
Pai argues that there's not enough evidence of harm to justify the net neutrality rules, but the commission has been slow to release the text of 47,000 net neutrality complaints the FCC has received since imposing the rules two years ago. The FCC has released some of the complaints in response to a public records request, and the organization says it will "release the remainder as soon as we can." But the full release will come after the comment deadline, limiting the public's ability to evaluate the complaints before commenting on Pai's plan.
The comment system was temporarily disrupted on May 8 after HBO comedian John Oliver urged viewers to speak out in favor of net neutrality rules. The FCC claimed it was hit by multiple DDoS attacks, but it has been criticized by Democratic lawmakers for "not releas[ing] any records or documentation that would allow for confirmation that an attack occurred."
Net neutrality advocates face a high hurdle
Pai has set a high bar for net neutrality advocates. The number of comments in favor of or against net neutrality rules "is not as important as the substantive comments that are in the record," Pai said last month.
In a Congressional hearing, a Democratic lawmaker pressed Pai to detail what kind of comments would change his mind about rolling back net neutrality rules. Pai responded that he could be persuaded by "economic analysis that shows credibly that there's infrastructure investment that has increased dramatically" since the net neutrality rules went into effect. Pai said he also would take evidence seriously if it shows that the overall economy would suffer from a net neutrality rollback or that startups and consumers can't thrive without the existing rules.
Pai has not said when the FCC will make a final decision on the common carrier classification and net neutrality rules, but it could happen before the end of this year or early next year. Last time around, the FCC took reply comments until September 15, 2014 and then voted on a final rulemaking on February 26, 2015.
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