Incoming FCC Chairman Ajit Pai alongside former Chairman Tom Wheeler

With power changing hands in Washington, many Obama-era policies are expected to be reversed by the incoming Trump administration. But while issues from healthcare to immigration seem poised to face a political battle, the undoing of recently-approved net neutrality regulations seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Don’t be so sure.

One thing the net neutrality fight should have taught us is that anything can happen. And despite the revolving door between the regulator and the very sector it’s charged with regulating, consumers boast an unexpectedly strong record when it comes to influencing tech and communications policy.

The People’s Voice

Americans are often derided as uninformed and apathetic when it comes to the political process. But if there’s one thing that gets the attention of today’s generation of “digital natives”, it’s a perceived theat to their online freedoms.

Under pressure from constituents, legislators abandoned controversial “SOPA” and “PIPA” bills in 2012, proving that, as CNN’s Julianne Pepitone put it: “When the entire Internet gets angry, Congress takes notice.”

A few years later, a similar showdown erupted when FCC chairman Tom Wheeler introduced a controversial proposal to allow “Internet fast-lanes.”

PIPA Protestors

The consumer outcry was deafening, with nearly 4 million comments flooding the FCC, almost all of which condemned the plan and called for robust net neutrality protections.

An Unlikely Ally

Chairman Wheeler eventually abandoned his industry-friendly “fast-lane” proposal.

In a stunning reversal, the former top lobbyist for the cable industry as head of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association returned with a new proposal that gave consumers what they had asked for: strong net neutrality rules, utilizing Title II of the Telecommunications Act to regulate ISPs by reclassifying them as common carriers.

Chairman Wheeler celebrates the passage of new net neutrality rules with fellow democratic commissioners.

His former colleagues at the NCTA were furious.

Wheeler showed once again that the public could influence policy, having transformed from a fox guarding the hen-house into a champion for the consumer. Perhaps there’s a chance that incoming Chairman Pai could also be swayed by a loud public outcry.

Unconventional Leadership

It’s easy to forget the schism on the right from just a few months ago now that Donald Trump is president and Republicans are celebrating their return to power.

But Trump took the helm of the GOP in a hostile takeover, often with blantant disregard the party’s values and norms.

A long-time Democrat, and one who frequently changes positions on key issues, the Donald has always cared more about his own appearance and poll numbers than the traditional Republican ideology.

So often described as “populist” and undeniably influenced by public opinion, it’s hard to imagine that the Trump administration would turn a completely deaf ear to the public on an issue that they’ve demonstrated time and time again is of importance to them.

Clash of the Titans

While the ISPs may be eager to milk consumers for more money by any means available to them, those consumers aren’t the only ones affected by their monkey business.

The very OTT service providers that the ISPs might hope to hamstring aren’t going to let that happen without a fight.

Among them are some very influential companies: Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, and more.

Some of the most valuable, profitable, and beloved companies in the country will be going up against the most hated, each of which are clinging desperately to outdated business models.

Though the fight at the FCC could go either way, in the court of public opinion, net neutrality opponents will be clobbered.

Anything Can Happen

If anything can be said about our politics these days it’s this: “Anything can happen.”

With an an issue that the public cares deeply about, an unprecedented president, chaos in agencies across Washington D.C., and a regulator that’s proven responsive to consumers despite being stacked with former lobbyists and industry insiders, Chairman Pai won’t simply be able to close the book on net neutrality.

The current non-competitive landscape is not sustainable, and public officials standing with the cable companies rather than consumers should be on notice.

Even if Republicans can banish net neutrality for the next 4 to 8 years with their current control of government, the next Democratic administration will likely put Title II back on the table.

Our democracy may be messy, but this is how it works.