The 'clicktivist' in chief

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[Commentary] Rather than lead, President Obama's network neutrality policy statement firmly places the President in the role of follower. The President's arguments are boilerplate net neutrality advocacy, calling for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify broadband as a Title II common carrier telecommunications service and then adopt "bright line rules" that would prohibit blocking, throttling and paid prioritization.

As is standard with the reclassification argument, President Obama also suggests that the FCC use its authority under Section 10 of the Telecommunications Act to forbear "from rate regulation and other provisions less relevant to broadband services" in order to create some sort of "Title II lite" to ease the sting of applying regulations designed for a monopoly telephone world onto the Internet. Given such platitudes, it is clear the President's advisers have failed to do their job. Obama's talking points offer nothing new to the debate other than an endorsement of regulations his team plainly does not understand. The Administration should lead and inject a little substance into the debate. In particular, the White House should have an agency of the executive branch (e.g., the Department of Justice, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration or the Office of Science and Technology Policy) file a detailed legal brief in the commission's Open Internet docket which not only spells out the exact particulars of the President's proposal, but also outlines the legal basis (complete with footnotes to relevant statutes, case law and FCC precedent, please) supporting it.

[Spiwak is the president of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies]


The 'clicktivist' in chief