The FCC’s net neutrality proposal: A shameful sham that sells out consumers

[Commentary] The day after the Trump Justice Department sues to block the vertical integration of AT&T and Time Warner, the Trump Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposes eliminating rules that could be used to prevent the same harms to consumers. Right hand…meet left hand. Fighting against monopolization in the internet era…meet ideologically-driven “do what the big guys want.” The Trump FCC’s proposal to eliminate the over-two-year-old Open Internet Rule is a shameful sham and sellout. The assertion that the FCC proposal is somehow pro-consumer is a sham that doesn’t pass the straight-face test. It is impossible to find anything pro-consumer in the expert telecommunications agency walking away from its responsibilities in favor of an agency with no telecommunications expertise or authority. Here is the secret why the big companies want this: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has NO rule-making regulatory authority in this area. In the name of “protecting consumers” the FCC is walking away under a smokescreen sham that the FTC can do the job. [Tom Wheeler served as the 31st Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2013-2017, during which time the FCC passed the Open Internet Rule.]