FTC CTO: We Have Tech Smarts to Enforce Net Neutrality

Federal Trade Commission acting Chief Technology Officer Neil Chilson says that the FTC has the tech expertise to enforce network neutrality in the absence of Federal Communications Commission rules against blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization, but that it does not need a "granular, micromanaging" level of technical detail to protect consumers and competition -- it is not writing specific rules -- but rather to focus on the end effects of a particular practice. Chilson was featured on a USTelecom-hosted webinar. He made it clear that he was speaking for himself, not the agency, but he is the top tech official at the agency. Asked if the FTC could ban paid prioritization, he pointed to a 2007 Broadband Connectivity Competition Report in which the FTC concluded that prioritization had pro-competitive applications that argued for a case-by-case review rather than a ban. USTelecom's Diane Holland pointed to critics who have said the FTC does not have the technical expertise to oversee network access, Chilson begged to differ.