Commissioner O'Rielly Remarks Before the Silicon Flatirons' Tech Conference

The challenge for those of us charged with regulatory authority over certain technologies is to explain, educate, and, to some degree, manage expectations. Added to that is the obligation to enable the proper environment for innovation, and only take regulatory action when absolutely necessary, and only to the extent that doing so produces greater benefits relative to costs. In other words, our concern about any potential downside cannot be an automatic bar to further innovation, lest we expect to return to the days of dwelling in caves without fire.

I am truly and whole-heartedly optimistic that society will benefit and advance from technology. On the other hand, the pessimist in me knows there will be noteworthy downsides, exposing humans to, in some cases, unforeseeable strife and pain. At the same time, I’m also confident that government, in trying to predict the future and prevent such consequences, can screw up any potential successes with improper and heavy-handed regulation. 

I also am pessimistic that the usual suspects will refrain from trying to ensconce many technology offerings within the existing, but dying, vestiges of the Commission’s own authority. We have seen this in the past with the profoundly flawed efforts to adopt net neutrality regulations and the effort to apply Title II to broadband offerings. Moreover, we have heard calls to subject online video platforms to the same rules that are suffocating traditional broadcasters and cable providers. In fact, there will unfortunately never be a shortage of socialist soothsayers and sages claiming the dusty legacy rules must be applied to the business offerings of certain technology companies. Memories are surprisingly short in our universe, and many lessons repeatedly go unlearned. Failures to provide legislative guidance on certain matters will result in regulators’ sensationalist attempts to capture technology companies in the byzantine regulatory environment once reserved for communications providers.