Sohn Has Issues with Net Neutrality General Conduct Standard

Gigi Sohn, President Biden's nominee for the Federal Communications Commission, told Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that she would be no slam dunk vote for restoring the FCC's vague "general conduct standard" if FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel tees up restoration of the FCC's open internet rules as expected. Under former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, for whom Sohn was a top advisor and Title II-based net neutrality rules advocate, the bright-line rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization were accompanied by what was arguably a "fuzzy" general conduct standard that allowed the FCC to take action, on a case-by-case basis, against other practices that might not fit into those three categories but which it concluded unreasonably impeded an open internet. Asked by Sen Blunt, in written questions following her nomination hearing, whether she favored bringing back that general conduct standard, Sohn said she would look at the totality of the record and law and come to a conclusion about the scope of new net neutrality rules, including considering adopting the general conduct standard. But she also pointed out that she has called out that standard in public. "I have been critical of the general conduct standard in the past," she said. "In an October 2020 paper, I stated that the general conduct standard was 'too vague and complicated' and urged that it be replaced with a simple 'unreasonable discrimination' standard similar to that adopted by the FCC in 2011."