McSlarrow: Open Internet Rules Could Threaten Openness, Content & Applications

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow told the Media Institute that "Internet service providers do not threaten free speech." "[W]hen all the dire warnings of the net neutrality proponents are stripped away, there really are no signs of actual harm," he said, but countered there could be real harms from network neutrality rules that forced speech. Weighing in on what he conceded was the "seemingly endless" debate over network neutrality, he took aim at what he called "the strongest and loudest voices for net neutrality rules [who] often cloak their agenda as advancing the First Amendment or, just as frequently, First Amendment 'values.'" The FCC is currently considering expanding and codifying its existing open Internet guidelines, and McSlarrow wants it to think hard about whether those rules can be justified under First Amendment standards. "What is fascinating, and frankly disturbing, however, is how often in recent years that First Amendment principles have been turned upside down in an attempt to advance agendas that themselves threaten true First Amendment rights," he said. He said network neutrality rules could actually restrict speech in a number of ways.