Your Landlord Can Force Mandatory ISP Service On You, FCC’s New Chair Says

New Presidential administrations almost always mean a new agenda for the Federal Communications Commission. As a prime example of this, the new FCC Chair Brendan Carr has struck down a Biden-era proposal that would have limited landlords’ ability to make tenants accept mandatory internet service through a single bulk provider. Since the proposal has been shot down, there’s nothing keeping building owners from forcing their tenants to pay for internet service they neither want nor need.

As reported by Ars Technica, Carr framed his decision as a win for consumers and claimed that the previous proposal would have increased increased internet costs for tenants. He also condemned the proposal as “regulatory overreach” and promised to undo more of the FCC’s prior agenda.

However, the now-defunct proposal was not a ban on landlords’ ability to offer bulk internet services; it simply gave tenants the ability to refuse the service. That was opposed by housing industry lobby groups, who in turn praised Carr’s decision for allowing renters “to reap the benefits of bulk billing.” Cable industry lobbyists–including representatives of Comcast, Charter, and Cox–were also in favor of Carr’s action.

Public Knowledge–a non-profit public interest group–shared a statement to Ars Technica through its legal director John Bergmayer which states that the proposed bulk-billing ban would have eliminated “one of the ways that landlords, HOAs, and telecom and cable companies collaborate to bypass the intended effort of [FCC] rules.” Now, there’s little to prevent landlords from offering substandard internet service for inflated prices to tenants who can no longer refuse them.

Image credit: Getty Images/Alex Wong