Net Neutrality Bait and Switch to Title II

[Commentary] We’re witnessing a classic bait and switch play out in public that anyone paying attention can see. If this was truly about net neutrality and protecting consumers, the FCC and the Obama Administration would be negotiating earnestly to achieve a lasting legislative compromise solution, not playing politics.

Apparently, this is now about deceptively using the “bait” of net neutrality consensus to disguise the FCC’s “switch” to unilaterally asserting sweeping regulatory authority over the Internet, with no transparency about how the FCC plans to use this new sweeping power for regulatory purposes beyond net neutrality. If we are supposed to believe the FCC that broadband competitors have “gatekeeper” power to discriminate commercially, why wouldn’t the FCC have national regulatory “gatekeeper” power to discriminate politically in favor of providers, content and candidates who support expansive FCC power and control over the networks and content that comprise the Internet? Political regulatory power grabs could easily beget political regulation of political speech.

[Scott Cleland is President of Precursor LLC, a research consultancy for Fortune 500 companies]