Net Neutrality (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver) and the FCC

The FCC, or Federal Communications Commission, plays a crucial role in regulating the internet and enforcing net neutrality. In 2015, the FCC passed the Open Internet Order, which classified the internet as a public utility, similar to electricity or water.

This classification was a major victory for net neutrality advocates, who argued that the internet should be treated as a public good rather than a private commodity. The order prohibited internet service providers from throttling or blocking internet traffic.

The FCC's decision was met with opposition from internet service providers, who argued that the classification would stifle innovation and investment in the internet. They claimed that the regulations would lead to increased costs and decreased investment in broadband infrastructure.

The FCC's decision also sparked controversy over the role of the agency in regulating the internet. Some argued that the FCC overstepped its authority, while others argued that the agency had the power to regulate the internet as a public utility.

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John Oliver's "Net Neutrality" segment caused a surge in comments on the FCC's proposal, with 150,000 extra comments submitted in response to the show.

The FCC site crashed temporarily due to a surge in commenting, but they later claimed it was due to distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which HBO denied initiating.

Several Congressional Democrats doubted the cause of the outage and called for an investigation.

The segment was thought to have played a major role in the FCC's decision to apply the "common carrier" designation to the internet, with the agency voting to do so on February 26, 2015.

FCC Chairman Wheeler said the decision was not a plan to regulate the internet, but rather to stand up for the concept of net neutrality.

Ajit Pai, a commissioner at the time, responded to the segment by making a video reading mean tweets about himself in the style of a Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment.

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Pai's video was criticized for refusing to debate Oliver's points and instead addressing anonymous Twitter users with an implication that they were morons.

The FCC ultimately released the specific details of its new net neutrality rules on March 12, 2015, which included prohibiting content blocking, slower connections to websites, and "fast and slow lanes".

The public commenting period was extended by two weeks to August 30, receiving a staggering 22 million comments, the highest number for any FCC proposal to date.

A poll in mid-August found that 60% of Americans supported the rules while 17% opposed them, with a consistent ratio of support across Democratic and Republican voters.

The FCC received over 1 million comments from a spambot, most of which were made in support of the proposal to repeal net neutrality, raising questions about the legitimacy of many comments.

The FCC considered disregarding every comment due to the high number of fake comments, but ultimately decided to move forward with the proposal.

Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, had been vocal about his opposition to net neutrality regulations, even writing a 67-page dissent statement against it when the regulation was originally being voted on.

In 2014, a proposal was put forth to speed up the regulatory process in the US.

This proposal, known as the "Fast-Lane" proposal, aimed to reduce the time it takes for new technologies to enter the market.

The proposal was put forth by the Obama administration in an effort to boost economic growth and job creation.

It would have allowed companies to pay a fee to have their products reviewed more quickly, with the goal of reducing the review time from 30 months to 6 months.

However, the proposal was met with opposition from some lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups, who argued that it would give companies an unfair advantage and potentially put consumers at risk.

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The public commenting period for the FCC's proposal to repeal net neutrality regulations closed on August 30, 2017, after being extended by two weeks.

A total of 22 million comments were received, which is the highest number of comments for any FCC proposal to date. This included over 1 million comments from a spambot, most of which were made in support of the proposal.

The legitimacy of many comments was questioned due to the use of fake email templates and duplicate email addresses. In fact, an estimate placed the total number of fake comments in excess of 7 million.

The FCC considered disregarding every comment due to the high number of fake submissions. However, Pai refused to investigate the fake comments.

The public was able to comment and weigh in on the proposal before the FCC voted in favor of repealing the regulations on December 14, 2017.

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The controversy surrounding net neutrality has been a hot topic, and John Oliver's segments on the issue have been a key part of the conversation.

Oliver's segments have been so effective that they've even crashed the FCC website, with a surge of 150,000 comments on the net neutrality proposal following his show.

The FCC initially blamed the crash on distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, but several Congressional Democrats doubted this explanation and called for an investigation.

In response to Oliver's segment, Ajit Pai made a video where he read and responded to mean tweets about himself in the style of a Jimmy Kimmel Live! segment.

Pai's video was criticized for not addressing the actual issues with net neutrality, instead focusing on anonymous Twitter users.

The net neutrality fight is unfortunately back, and John Oliver is once again calling on viewers to take action, this time to comment on the new proposed rules.

In his latest segment, Oliver highlights the current issues with net neutrality, including Verizon's misleading video defending the company's viewpoint and Ajit Pai's plan to reverse Title II net neutrality.

Oliver's call to action is to call the FCC and comment on its website to urge them to keep the current net neutrality policy, which he believes is essential for a level playing field online.

To make it easier for viewers to comment, Oliver and his team created a website called gofccyourself.com to streamline the process.

The FCC website crashed again shortly after Oliver's segment, showing the impact of his call to action.

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After the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump appointed Ajit Pai as chairman of the FCC. Pai proposed scrapping Title II, citing decreased business due to higher internet regulation.

The previous FCC's position under Chairman Wheeler supported net neutrality. In May 2017, the FCC voted to remove the net neutrality rules enacted under the Obama administration.

The vote was partisan, with one Democratic board member opposing the removal. Two Republicans supported the removal.

This marked a significant change from the previous administration's stance on net neutrality.