Pro-net neutrality FCC nominee says ISPs are doing everything they can to keep her out

pcgamer.com:

Ajit Pai's FCC axed net neutrality regulations during the Trump administration, giving broadband companies in the US free rein to block or throttle websites and online services. The commission hasn't acted to restore those regulations under Biden due to a stalemate over the president's repeated nominee for commissioner, Gigi Sohn, who says her confirmation is being blocked by a telecommunications industry that fears a «pragmatic, pro-competition, pro-consumer policymaker.»

The FCC is run by five commissioners, but it currently only has four: two Republicans and two Democrats. If Sohn becomes the fifth commissioner, Democrats will have the majority they need to start making policy changes, such as reinstating net neutrality rules. That would be a good thing for PC gamers—we laid out why we like net neutrality back in 2017—but Sohn's nomination has been bitterly opposed by Republicans who claim she's too partisan for the job, and her confirmation has been repeatedly thwarted.

In a prepared statement(opens in new tab) during her third confirmation hearing today, Sohn said that it is «critical for at least one member of the FCC to be a consumer advocate,» and stated that the telecommunications industry has been behind «false and misleading» attacks on her record and character through «dark money groups and surrogates.»

Led by Republican Senator Ted Cruz, opponents to Sohn's appointment claimed in the hearing that she misled the committee about her legal work with Locast(opens in new tab), a non-profit which streamed over-the-air TV broadcasts on the internet until it was sued to oblivion by the major broadcast networks, an accusation she denies. Sohn was also criticized for donating to the campaigns of senators during her