It's Not About "Can We?" It's About "Will We?"

[Commentary] Public comments are due regarding the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) proposed rules for network neutrality.

Much of the focus will be on arcane legalisms, the particulars of various court decisions, and the confounding twists and turns of FCC regulatory oversight (or lack thereof). This is all well and good, and based on more than a decade tracking such minutiae as a member of the FCC, I am confident that those of us favoring a real Open Internet will have much the better detailed arguments to put forward.

But it’s more -- much more -- than that.

[Copps served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011 and was the FCC's Acting Chairman from January to June 2009]