Welcome to the tech policy podcast. I'm Evan Swartzchabber, your host. On today's show,

net neutrality, this new exciting topic that we're going to explore on the podcast for the first time.

Joining me to discuss this is the sourest grape and tech policy, Baron Soka. Berrin, thank you for joining the show.

Yes.

Do all of that.

That's a good answer.

So a quick recap on this very new and exciting issue.

Back in May of 2014, Chairman Tom Wheeler, our favorite FCC chairman of all time, decided

that he was going to protect net neutrality.

And for listeners who are unfamiliar with this topic,

net neutrality is essentially the core principles of how internet traffic is treated.

No blocking, no throttling, and no discrimination.

And then beyond that, there's a lot of disagreements about the margins,

like paid prioritization of certain traffic.

May of 2014, Wheeler releases a very, in hindsight, modest proposal to address those concerns,

and the left wasn't having any of it, so they pressured him, including the White House,

which interfered in the supposedly independent agency's proceedings,

asked him to reclassify broadband providers under Title II rules, which are essentially

Monopoly era telephone regulations from the 1930s, and then pair it back as they see fit to, quote,

modernize and tailor it for the 21st century. So Obama weighs in in November of 2014, February

of 2015, we get the vote, the rules take effect in June of 2015, and then immediately

we had a bunch of lawsuits. And we did a show, recapping this loss that the petitioners and

...