FTC's Leibowitz: Network Neutrality Rhetoric Overheated On Both Sides

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz told cable operators and programmers in Los Angeles Wednesday (May 12) that he supported everything Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is doing on the network neutrality front, which would include trying to reclassify broadband transmissions under Title II common carrier regulations.

But he also said he took the cable industry at its word that it was not going to discriminate against content or applications on the Internet. He said that promise, combined with what he called a "paucity of obvious network neutrality violations," begged the question: "Isn't the rhetoric on both sides a little overheated?" "With regard to net neutrality, I am on record supporting some form of non-discrimination requirement for ISPs. And this is not because I believe the cable industry wants to pick and choose what sort of content its customers receive. In fact, as I think I've made clear, I credit you with helping to lead us into a world where our communication, entertainment, education, and business choices are almost unlimited." But, he said, "I do believe that we need to retain the open character of the Internet that has led to so many of the innovations that make your broadband services something that consumers want to buy. Moreover, the firms that invest so much in the Internet, like all of you here today, will benefit from clear rules of the road on net neutrality far more than you will suffer from any set of rules the FCC promulgates."