Regulatory classification

Reflections from a variety of representatives from startups, small businesses, and established companies that began as startups who say they have open internet protections to thank for their prior and continued success. 

Reps Gregory Meeks (D-NY), House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), and House Commerce Committee Ranking MemberFrank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) led six other Democrats in sending a letter to the Government Accountability Office requesting that it investigate and issue a report that uncovers the extent that outside groups were using false identities during the Federal Communications Commission’s recent network neutrality rulemaking process.  The letter also requests that GAO examine whether this shady practice extends to other agency rulemaking processes.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) took aim against FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who joined Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D-NY) to bash fake comments and call for a delay to the Federal Communications Commission vote to repeal net neutrality rules. “There is no reason” for delay, said Chairman Greg Walden. “That is a false issue, and I am deeply disappointed in the role that Commissioner Rosenworcel has decided to play in this matter.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is making the rounds to rally supporters behind his plan to roll back the neutrality rules. His efforts include a huddle with House Republicans set for Thursday and a visit to the Senate Republican.

[Commentary] Some have tried to whip Americans into a frenzy by making outlandish claims. Feeding the hysteria are silly accusations that my Restoring Interernet Freedom plan will “end the internet as we know it” or threaten American democracy itself. These claims obscure a pretty mundane truth: This plan would simply restore the successful, light-touch regulatory framework that governed the internet from 1996 to 2015.

In crafting rules for the Restoring Internet Freedom proceeding, the Federal Communications Commission consulted the following sources, all of which are cited in the publicly released draft order:

[Commentary] It's hard to know what is sadder — that the Tribune’s Editorial Board believes that cat videos are the best thing about the internet or that it picks the interests of fat-cat internet service providers over its readers. Net neutrality is not “a new concept promulgated by the Obama administration,” but a consumer protection concern that dates back at least as far as the George W. Bush administration when then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell outlined four “internet freedoms”:

[Commentary] Did Obama really invent net neutrality? Even in a country with famously short attention spans, at least some people might have noticed that net neutrality has been around longer than that. So where did net neutrality come from? How did it get started? What’s now called the “net neutrality debate” is really a restatement of a classic question: How should a network’s owner treat the traffic that it carries? What rights, if any, should a network’s users have versus its owners?

Last week, AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn tried (and failed) to undercut Network Neutrality supporters by insisting that Free Press has been foretelling doom and gloom since 2010. That’s when the Federal Communications Commission adopted weak open-internet rules that didn’t cover mobile access. Quinn claims that none of Free Press’ predictions about carriers engaging in mobile blocking ever came true — but he conveniently overlooks how AT&T blocked FaceTime on its cellular networks in 2012 and 2013.

Rep Ro Khanna (D-CA) -- who represents parts of Silicon Valley -- defended a controversial statement he made in a conversation with his local paper last week that pointed to Portugal as an example of what happens when regulations don't protect network neutrality.