House Subcommittee Discusses the Dangers of International Regulation of the Internet

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing to examine International Proposals to Regulate the Internet. The hearing was one of the most bipartisan in memory, with everybody in agreement that government oversight of the Internet is a bad idea.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the ranking member of the full House Commerce Committee, said there is "no daylight" between House Democrats, House Republicans and the Obama Administration on the issue. Republican and Democrat alike said a top-down, government-controlled approach, rather than the current multistakeholder model, would be a threat to the Internet economy and political speech and a mechanism for those regimes to restrict content they believed was a threat to their political control or cultural norms.

“The Internet is the single largest engine of global change since the printing press. Non-governmental institutions now manage the Internet’s core functions with input from private- and public-sector participants. Weakening the multi-stakeholder model weakens the Internet, harming its ability to spread prosperity and freedom,” said Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). “As the U.S. delegation to the WCIT takes shape, I urge the administration to continue the United States’ commitment to the Internet’s collaborative governance structure and to reject international efforts to bring the Internet under government control."

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philip Verveer warned that proposals to give the United Nations more control over the Internet could lead to international censorship. He testified that the measures would "slow the pace of innovation, hamper global economic development and potentially lead to an era of unprecedented control over what people can say and do online."

“If there’s one thing that we should not do,” said Vint Cerf, “it is to centralize decision-making power. The greatest strength of the current system of Internet governance is its meritocratic democracy. Anyone who cares can voice ideas and opinions, but the ultimate decisions are governed by broad consensus. It might not always be the most convenient of systems, but it’s the fairest, safest, and historically most effective way to ensure that good ideas win out and bad ideas die.”

Robert McDowell, a Republican commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, said if the ITU does try to regulate the Internet, the United States could opt out of many provisions, but that the changes could create a "balkanized" and "bifurcated" Internet instead of the global one that exists today. Commissioner McDowell also testified that foreign government officials have talked to him about plans to create an international fund allowing state-owned telecom companies to charge for access to certain websites on a per-click basis to fund the build out of Internet networks. He identified Google, iTunes, Facebook and Netflix as possible targets for the extra fees.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) accused the Obama Administration of hypocrisy for opposing the UN effort on Internet control but supporting network neutrality regulations that bar Internet providers from slowing down or speeding up access to websites in order to preserve competition and protect consumer choice. Rep Blackburn also questioned why the FCC hasn't officially closed its inquiry into whether the Internet should be reclassified as a "Title II" utility, which would give the agency more authority over it.