Craig Aaron

The FCC's Flimsy Defense of Fake Net Neutrality

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler wants you to calm down.

In a blog post on the FCC website, he claimed that the many critics of his plan are "misinformed." Does that mean that it's time for network neutrality fans to put down their pitchforks? Hell, no. It's time to get even louder.

Try as he might to convince people that he's on the right course, Chairman Wheeler doesn't seem to grasp one basic problem: Encouraging online discrimination in the name of the open Internet is unacceptable. Yet that's exactly what his plan would do: allow Internet service providers to charge new fees to content companies for preferential treatment.

If the chairman truly wants to do right by the Internet and avoid losing another costly court battle, reclassifying broadband is the only viable option. If Chairman Wheeler doesn't reclassify and continues down the wrong path, either the rules will be struck down when the FCC acts or, more likely, they'll never be enforced. And under the convoluted approach he's proposed, future FCC chairs who think differently than Chairman Wheeler does will be under zero obligation to take action.

Reclassification is the approach on the strongest legal footing. Reclassifying broadband is also the only approach that puts the needs of Internet users first. Innovators need the certainty that comes with common carriage, not Chairman Wheeler's "just trust me" approach to stopping harmful behavior by AT&T, Comcast or Verizon.

[Aaron is President and CEO, Free Press]

Dear Chairman Wheeler: You Don’t Protect Net Neutrality by Allowing Online Discrimination

Tom Wheeler still doesn’t get it. People aren’t flooding his phone lines and filling his in-box because they’re confused about his proposal. They understand all too well that his plan would create a pay-to-prioritize Internet with fast lanes for the few.

There’s a better way to protect the public, and Chairman Wheeler’s excuses for not taking that path aren’t convincing anyone. If the chairman truly wants to do right by the Internet and avoid losing another costly court battle, he should follow the letter of the Communications Act, exercise the FCC’s clear authority and reclassify Internet service providers as common carriers. It’s not only the most sensible and courageous approach, it’s also the quickest way to bring a final resolution to this issue. And it’s the only approach that puts the needs of Internet users first.

The future of the open Internet can’t rest on the supposed good intentions of one chairman. Internet users and innovators need the certainty that comes with common carriage, not Wheeler’s ‘just trust me’ approach to stopping harmful behavior from providers. Chairman Wheeler needs to realize that the push for reclassification is about much more than Net Neutrality. Title II isn’t something that he holds in his back pocket to use at a later date. It’s the law Congress intended to apply to these vital services, so that users would be free to communicate without unjust online discrimination.

Comcast Goes to Washington... and Flops

[Commentary] Comcast took to Washington to sell its mega-merger with Time Warner Cable. But in a week that Comcast had hoped to parade the proposed merger past Congress and regulators it quickly became clear that the cable giant couldn't make the case.

Every step of the way, they were asked by skeptical lawmakers to explain how, exactly, this merger would benefit the public. Apparently, the answer is better DVRs. And that's about all we get for letting the No. 1 cable company swallow up No. 2. If this merger goes through, Comcast's service area will cover almost two-thirds of the United States.

On day one, Comcast will control nearly 50 percent of the truly high-speed Internet market, and it will be the only broadband provider that can deliver Internet and pay-TV services to nearly four out of every 10 US homes. Judging by the hearing, the Senate wasn't buying what Comcast was selling -- and neither is the public.

Will an outraged public be able to counteract Comcast's lobbying onslaught? Can organized people beat organized money? Well, it's the only thing that ever has.

[Aaron is President and CEO, Free Press]