The issue of net neutrality has elicited strong views from companies and their in-house counsel in recent years. So when Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai offered a plan Tuesday to eliminate Obama-era regulations around net neutrality, companies spoke up quickly, with one prominent GC, Michael Cheah of New York-based Vimeo, going so far as to call the move “misguided” in a blog post.

Pai announced that the FCC will vote in December on whether to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, which mandates that internet service providers such as Verizon and AT&T can't block websites or charge them extra for faster bandwidth. If the order is repealed, internet service providers would likely see a boost in profits, but consumers may get companies' bandwidth costs passed on to them.

“The announcement is a disappointing development, to be sure, but it's not surprising,” Cheah wrote. “From day one, Mr. Pai has made it clear that he would not let the mountain of evidence (and millions of commenters) demonstrating why we need neutrality get in the way of his crusade to make the internet more like the cable business. The result is a repeal order that no one wants—except for the largest ISPs.”

Cheah has been a vocal supporter for net neutrality over the past year. In July, he encouraged participation in a one-day protest against the Trump administration's stance on the issue. He's previously said that the current laws allow smaller content creators, like those who create videos on his platform, compete for attention online. Without net neutrality, they'd have to spend extra money to promote their work.

And Cheah is not the only one in tech who is worried.

Dozens of tech companies, including Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., spoke out through a shared statement via the Internet Association, an industry lobbying group, following the FCC announcement. Netflix Inc. and Google, also members of the Internet Association, doubled down on the message with their own statements expressing disappointment and their opposition to the new proposal.

“The 2015 Order created bright-line, enforceable net neutrality protections that guarantee consumers access to the entire internet and preserve competition online,” said the Internet Association statement. “This proposal fails to achieve any of these objectives. Consumers have little choice in their ISP, and service providers should not be allowed to use this gatekeeper position at the point of connection to discriminate against websites and apps.”

The Internet Association said its members will continue to fight for net neutrality. Cheah also said he will promote litigation against the FCC plan and push for a permanent statutory solution.

“The path to enforceable net neutrality rules has never been easy,” Cheah said. “With some further heavy lifting, Chairman Pai's actions today will hopefully be remembered five years from now as a brief detour down the wrong road.”

The issue of net neutrality has elicited strong views from companies and their in-house counsel in recent years. So when Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai offered a plan Tuesday to eliminate Obama-era regulations around net neutrality, companies spoke up quickly, with one prominent GC, Michael Cheah of New York-based Vimeo, going so far as to call the move “misguided” in a blog post.

Pai announced that the FCC will vote in December on whether to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order, which mandates that internet service providers such as Verizon and AT&T can't block websites or charge them extra for faster bandwidth. If the order is repealed, internet service providers would likely see a boost in profits, but consumers may get companies' bandwidth costs passed on to them.

“The announcement is a disappointing development, to be sure, but it's not surprising,” Cheah wrote. “From day one, Mr. Pai has made it clear that he would not let the mountain of evidence (and millions of commenters) demonstrating why we need neutrality get in the way of his crusade to make the internet more like the cable business. The result is a repeal order that no one wants—except for the largest ISPs.”

Cheah has been a vocal supporter for net neutrality over the past year. In July, he encouraged participation in a one-day protest against the Trump administration's stance on the issue. He's previously said that the current laws allow smaller content creators, like those who create videos on his platform, compete for attention online. Without net neutrality, they'd have to spend extra money to promote their work.

And Cheah is not the only one in tech who is worried.

Dozens of tech companies, including Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., spoke out through a shared statement via the Internet Association, an industry lobbying group, following the FCC announcement. Netflix Inc. and Google, also members of the Internet Association, doubled down on the message with their own statements expressing disappointment and their opposition to the new proposal.

“The 2015 Order created bright-line, enforceable net neutrality protections that guarantee consumers access to the entire internet and preserve competition online,” said the Internet Association statement. “This proposal fails to achieve any of these objectives. Consumers have little choice in their ISP, and service providers should not be allowed to use this gatekeeper position at the point of connection to discriminate against websites and apps.”

The Internet Association said its members will continue to fight for net neutrality. Cheah also said he will promote litigation against the FCC plan and push for a permanent statutory solution.

“The path to enforceable net neutrality rules has never been easy,” Cheah said. “With some further heavy lifting, Chairman Pai's actions today will hopefully be remembered five years from now as a brief detour down the wrong road.”