OTI Says FCC’s Deregulation Order Undermines Public Safety

The record shows extensive opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order and the grave danger it poses to public safety and public health, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis. Public health and public safety officials detail in the record how both officials and the public writ large rely on mass-market retail broadband internet access services (BIAS). They also demonstrate how a lack of ex ante rules prohibiting blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization as well as the FCC’s abdication of Title II authority could drastically harm public safety efforts. New America’s Open Technology Institute, Common Cause, and Public Knowledge agree with these assertions and urges the FCC to consider the wide-ranging reality of what “first responders” are in the modern world, especially as officials and the public are largely confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, OTI, Common Cause, and PK oppose the notion that the 2017 Order improved investment in networks or benefitted public safety in any way. The facts do not support this theory. Additionally, even if network investment had been increased, this would not compensate for all the harms that result from the lack of any sort of oversight over internet service providers (ISPs) and their harmful practices.