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Image of the Day: U.S. Internet Speeds Skyrocketed After Ending Failed Title II "Net Neutrality" Experiment

CFIF often highlights how the Biden Administration's bizarre decision to resurrect failed Title II "Net Neutrality" internet regulation, which caused private broadband investment to decline for the first time ever outside of a recession during its brief experiment at the end of the Obama Administration, is a terrible idea that will only punish consumers if allowed to take effect.

Here's what happened after that brief experiment was repealed under the Trump Administration and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai - internet speeds skyrocketed despite late-night comedians' and left-wing activists' warnings that the internet was doomed:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="515"] Internet Speeds Post-"Net Neutrality"[/caption]

 …[more]

April 19, 2024 • 09:51 AM

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31 FCC and Chairman Ajit Pai Vindicated on "Net Neutrality" by Court, Experience

Remember the so-called “Net Neutrality” debate?   In fairness, Americans shouldn’t be blamed for cleansing it from their minds.   Its Orwellian name alone offended any sense of logic, considering that a heavy-handed, 1930s-era, crony-capitalist, utility-style, interventionist federal regulation of internet service…

32 “Net Neutrality”: Pandemic Vindicates FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

Among its other byproducts, the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the asininity of casting every item in leftists’ exhaustive policy wishlist in life-or-death rhetorical terms.  After all, there’s nothing like an actual existential threat to re-contextualize cheap partisan overuse of the term “existential threat,” from…

33 Federal Court Rejects Activist Lawsuit, Approves T-Mobile/Sprint Merger

Economies across Europe, China and much of the world continue to suffer stubborn economic malaise.  In contrast, the United States continues to flourish amid a renewed economic agenda of deregulation and lower taxation.  Free market forces, not sclerotic bureaucracy, have once again proven themselves the optimal path to prosperity. …

34 CFIF Testifies in Nebraska in Support of Capping Cable Franchise Fees Statewide at 3%

TESTIMONY OF TIMOTHY H. LEE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF LEGAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS CENTER FOR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM HEARING ON "LB1046 - CHANGE PROVISIONS RELATING TO TAXES AND FEES ON COMMUNITY ANTENNA TELEVISION SERVICE" BEFORE THE   NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS FEBRUARY 11, 2020 Good…

35 Three Years In, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Epitomizes Trump Appointment Successes

On November 6, 1988, two days before that year’s presidential election pitting George H. W. Bush against Michael Dukakis, George Will penned a commentary entitled “The 5,000 Reasons for Voting for Bush.”  In that piece, Will cogently explained how – whatever one’s ambivalence or even distaste toward the candidate…

36 Facebook Shouldn't Be Political Speech Police

"We don't fact-check political ads," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a recent speech. "We don't do this to help politicians, but because we think people should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying." That might be simple common sense to many Americans, but to some Democrats these days, and particularly…

37 CFIF Praises Court of Appeals Ruling Upholding FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit broadly vindicated the 2017 Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) rulemaking that repealed the Obama Administration’s 2015 Title II internet rules that had suffocated the internet with public utility-style regulation.  In response, Center for Individual…

38 One Year Later: Internet "Eve of Destruction" Predictions Evaporate

And you tell me, over and over and over again, my friend/ Ahhh, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction…   —Barry McGuire, "Eve of Destruction," 1965 What is it with leftists and their habit of issuing alarmist predictions that subsequently prove groundless, in their ongoing campaign to impose more…

39 Elizabeth Warren's Plan to Break Up Big Tech Would Be Bad for America

Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has a new plan to break up Big Tech companies. The proposal entails appointing a bunch of regulators to undo mergers that her administration would deem anti-competitive. Warren's plan would classify any company that runs a marketplace and makes more than $25 billion a year as a "platform utility" and…

40 One Year Later, the Internet Somehow Survived Repeal of Obama FCC Regulations

Remember when repealing Obama-era internet regulations meant death for the internet, and many of us along with it?  One needn't travel far back in time.  It was one year ago that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under Chairman Ajit Pai oversaw that welcome repeal.  The histrionic reactions were farcical and immediate. …

41 California Attempts Unconstitutional, Unwise "Net Neutrality" Reboot

For years and even decades now, California has provided the rest of the nation an abject tutorial in how not to govern.  Once idealized as the Golden State, California's descent into leftism has rendered it more a dystopia than a destination.  Its situation has deteriorated so profoundly that it's literally difficult for residents to rent…

42 Google's Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Whoever at Google selected "Don't Be Evil" as its former corporate motto obviously possessed a most profound sense of ironic humor.  Perhaps no company rivals Google in terms of malign influence over U.S. public policy, consigning "Don't Be Evil" to the realm of ridiculous rather than descriptive.  This week, with President…

43 A Strategic Opening for Centrist Republicans on "Net Neutrality"

Amid a toxic political climate fraught with controversy and warring factions, centrist Republicans in Congress facing election across the country increasingly worry about being defined by positions they must take on today’s most divisive issues. That’s particularly true where swing voters in their districts believe that Congress is accomplishing…

44 FCC Reinstates Pre-2015 Internet Regulatory Regime, Jimmy Kimmel Hardest Hit

In 2015, the Obama Administration's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided in its wisdom that the internet was somehow broken.  In order to "fix" it, the Obama FCC determined that what internet service suddenly required was greater regulation as a "public utility" under a statutory provision enacted in the 1930s to…

45 A Layman's Guide to Bot Wars

Cyberwarfare. It's a term we hear more and more these days, but most of us don't really know what to make of it. Cyber meddling was thrust back into the news once again this February. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's indictments against 13 Russian nationals accused of attempting to manipulate public political opinion before and during the 2016 presidential…

46 Democrats Are Trying to Undo Important Internet Regulatory Reform

This article was originally published by The Daily Caller on February 27, 2018. Despite a lack of mainstream media attention, the bureaucratic disarray in Washington, D.C has created meaningful reforms. That is particularly true at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an agency that moved in a deliberate and transparent manner to restore regulatory…

47 Google: "Do As We Say, Not As We Do"

In recent months, dominant internet platforms like Google, Twitter and Facebook have experienced an identity crisis.  On one hand, they falsely allege in the "net neutrality" debate that internet service providers will begin controlling what people can view online, unless the federal government regulates the internet like a public utility…

48 Remarks of Chairman Ajit Pai on Restoring Internet Freedom, ANNOTATED

On November 28, 2017, Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") Chairman Ajit Pai delivered remarks on the Restoring Internet Freedom proceeding at an event hosted in Washington, D.C., by R Street Institute and Lincoln Network. Below are Chairman Pai’s complete remarks, along with our own annotations commentating and/or elaborating…

49 CFIF Applauds Circulation of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's Draft Restoring Internet Freedom Order

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai today circulated an eagerly anticipated draft Restoring Internet Freedom order to his fellow commissioners, detailing a proposal to reverse the radical Title II regulatory framework imposed by the previous FCC toward the end of President Obama’s tenure.  In…

50 "Net Neutrality?" Twitter Hypocritically Censors Conservative Representative Marsha Blackburn

"Net Neutrality for me, but not for thee."  Apparently, that's the mantra of crony capitalist titans like Twitter, who ask the federal government to heavily regulate internet service as a "public utility" under laws enacted in the 1930s.  Never mind that internet service providers already practice net neutrality and…

51 Google's Liberal Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Suddenly, the scales appear to be falling from liberals' eyes regarding Google.  For years, Google employed the anodyne motto "Don't Be Evil," even as it ruthlessly leveraged its political power to bend government policy in its favor.  Of course, there's nothing inherently improper about Google or any other organization exercising…

52 FCC Moves to Restore Internet Freedom

When Donald Trump campaigned for president, his raison d'être was to "make America great again" and "drain the swamp."  There's no better place to start than the internet sector, which plays an increasingly central role in our lives and economy, and which was a primary target of Obama Administration overregulation and…

53 CFIF Mobilizes Americans Opposed to the Obama Administration’s Title II Internet Power Grab

Campaign connects concerned citizens with the FCC to urge abandonment of the regulatory overreach pushed by previous Commission   WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) is mobilizing concerned Americans across the country who are opposed to the Obama-era Title II regulations that gave the federal government sweeping…

54 Chairman Ajit Pai Is Draining the FCC Swamp

If you're wondering where the Washington, D.C., swamp is being drained as promised, look no further than the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and intrepid new Chairman Ajit Pai.  For eight long years, the Obama Administration circumvented our deliberative democratic process to impose laws via administrative fiat and his infamous "…

55 Congress Restores Regulatory Sanity to Online Privacy Law

From time immemorial, Congress has drawn citizens' wrath by habitually taking the easy or popular route instead of the right or courageous path.  So when Congress pursues the proper but politically riskier course, we should collectively take note and applaud it.  Last week provided such an occasion when Congress utilized the Congressional…

56 As 2017 Begins, Broadcasters Exploit Outdated Federal Law to Impose Blackouts on Pay TV Consumers

In so many ways, America begins 2017 on a very high note.  Since the election, stock markets have ascended to new record highs.  Gallup reports that Americans enter the new year with "higher confidence in the U.S. economy than they have expressed at any other point since 2008," and that U.S. investor optimism "rose further…

57 Obama Gives Away American Control of the Internet

In another blow to American global leadership, the Obama administration is abdicating control of the internet. Countries that loathe freedom will gain more influence over what you'll be able to find on the web. The U.S. started the internet and served as its guardian for many years, guaranteeing that virtually any person or group, no matter how controversial…

58 Captain America, Barack Obama and Surrender of U.S. Internet Authority

In the new blockbuster "Captain America: Civil War," which I highly recommend to anyone debating whether to see it, the Avengers team splits over whether to surrender themselves to United Nations authority.  After an Avengers operation to capture a terrorist in Lagos, Nigeria, results in collateral damage to innocent bystanders, the…

59 Set-Top Boxes: FCC Regulatory Hammer Targets Protruding U.S. Tech Sector Nail

According to that rueful Japanese proverb, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."  And so it is with the U.S. technology sector and federal regulators' efforts to target it.  More specifically, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has its sights set on the thriving video entertainment sector.  Ask yourself:&…

60 Doubling Down: Obama Advocates Government-Owned Broadband Service

Since even before his 2009 inauguration, Barack Obama has promised his extremist base to "fix" an Internet sector that the rest of America hardly considered broken.   We've said it before, but it bears repeating:  Perhaps no innovation in history has transformed human life so rapidly, so profoundly and so beneficially as Internet…

 
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"Democrats have already made it clear that they will stop at nothing -- nothing -- to prevent Donald Trump from winning in November. So, we weren't surprised to read reports that President Joe Biden might declare a 'climate emergency' this year in hopes that it gooses his reelection odds. Never mind that such a declaration would put the U.S. right on the path to a Venezuela-style future.Late last…[more]
 
 
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