Venture capital investors weigh in on FCC's network neutrality plans with differing views

Venture capital investors are closely following the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality proposal and offering differing opinions on what the rules could mean for their investments.

Brad Burnham of Union Square Ventures in New York thinks his portfolio companies that include Twitter and Foursquare won't be protected by the current proposal. He says the FCC falls short in prohibiting cable and telecom firms from charging fees to Web firms to access customers and for faster lanes on the Internet. Weaker wireless protections mean those firms' applications could be blocked on future smart phones and tablets, Burnham says. And without clear definitions on what “unjust and unreasonable” management of networks means, he says cable and telecom Internet service providers can use their own loose interpretations to discriminate against competing services.