Tech groups want public probe of zero-rating plans

A large group of tech companies and advocates wants a public probe of new service offerings from wireless carriers, which they say could run afoul of network neutrality rules. The group (which includes the Benton Foundation) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission pressing the agency to take its review of zero-rating plans out from behind closed doors.

“Making decisions on these cases would set precedents for future practices, and would have implications for the Internet ecosystem that reach far beyond the stakeholders directly affected by these individual plans,” they wrote.“These decisions are too important to happen behind closed doors.” The letter was signed by companies like Yelp, Vimeo, Foursquare, Kickstarter, Medium, Mozilla and Reddit. Advocacy groups like Engine, Credo, Demand Progress and Access Now also signed on. “We urge you to open a public process to inform your evaluation of existing zero­rating plans,” the letter said. “The FCC’s process in this critical area would be immeasurably enriched by the participation of diverse stakeholders, many of whose input helped shape the Open Internet rules.”