Are We Ready to Act on Net Neutrality?: 10 Key Questions That Need Answers

Ten key questions policymakers should have a better handle on before deciding on Network Neutrality:

1) Does any favoring of some packets over others by ISPs without individual consumer choice represent a per se violation, or is there some discrimination (blocking, degrading, charging for usage and network management) that is pro-competitive and pro-consumer.

2) What is the record of ISPs with regard to engaging in anti-consumer and/or anti-competitive discrimination in the past?

3) What is the likelihood that ISPs will engage in anti-consumer and/or anti-competitive discrimination in the future?

4) What is the risk to innovation and consumer welfare if ISPs engage in anti-consumer and/or anti-competitive discrimination in the future?

5) How easy is it to accurately detect potential anti-consumer or anti-competitive actions by ISPs in a timely manner?

6) How easy it is it to distinguish between pro-consumer and/or pro-competitive discrimination and anti-consumer and/or anti-competitive discrimination?

7) Is differential pricing by ISPs of different users and/or different content and applications inherently bad, or can differential pricing be pro-consumer and pro-competition, and if so, what are the situations in which it is and is not?

8) Does quick discovery of potential ISP transgressions lead to correction in the marketplace due to public outcry and loss of customers or are ISP's likely be able to "get away with" transgressions absent direct government action?

9) Does the FCC have the legal authority it needs to effectively and expeditiously stop potential anti-competitive and/or anti-consumer ISP practices?

10) Does the FCC have the skill and inclination to effectively and expeditiously stop potential anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices by ISPs, and if they don't can Congressional oversight substitute for this?