ITIF to FCC: Internet Discrimination Can Be Good

Banning all paid prioritization will not result in an internet that drives innovation and consumer welfare, an internet that has never treated content neutrally anyway. That was one of the main points from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, which filed comments on the deadline for initial comments in the Federal Communications Commission's open Internet proposal.

ITIF said that it agreed that the FCC needed to be a cop on the paid prioritization beat but on a case-by-case basis. "[T]he Internet has never been 'neutral,'” ITIF told the FCC. "[D]iscrimination can be pro-innovation and pro-consumer or anti-innovation and anti-consumer." ISPs have similarly signaled that while they pledge not to block or throttle traffic, paid prioritization can be a service differentiator and a pro-consumer business model. ITIF agrees. "Broad dictates like 'all prioritization should be banned' or 'all prioritization should be allowed' are not helpful to achieving the kind of Internet that will be central to driving innovation and consumer welfare in the decades ahead."