FCC throws in the towel, but public has right to know why

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission will not appeal a court decision issued in January overturning the FCC's network neutrality rules, Verizon vs. Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that the FCC supports an open Internet and will develop new rules to replace those thrown out by the court. But for practical purposes, he threw in the towel. And the just-announced deal between Comcast and Netflix for preferential delivery shows how quickly the industry will move to capitalize on its now-unrestrained power. Verizon is a horrible legal precedent for the FCC and the Internet user and entrepreneurial communities because it severely restricts, if not eliminates, the FCC's power to prohibit discrimination and anticompetitive acts by service providers. It seems obvious that the FCC would want the case overturned. The failure of the chairman to seek review raises legitimate questions about the reasons for declining to appeal. Previously, he was the president of the National Cable Television Association and president of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. Cable television and wireless providers strongly opposed the net neutrality rules, and they must be secretly congratulating themselves over Wheeler's decision not to appeal. The chairman owes the American people a better explanation for his course of action. The FCC is not a private company that can hide the reasons for its decisions. It's a public agency obligated to serve the public. He needs to tell us why he decided not to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, and his reasons need to be persuasive.

[Tuthill teaches telecommunications, broadcast and Internet law at the UC Berkeley School of Law]