Why Republicans Can't Vote For Net Neutrality CRA

[Op-ed] There is considerable confusion about what’s really at stake in the congressional debates over net neutrality and online privacy regulation. For both issues, the threshold question is whether the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should regulate internet service providers (ISPs). Republicans voted in favor of FTC jurisdiction over ISPs’ privacy practices through a congressional resolution repealing the FCC order adopting privacy rules for ISPs.  Once they did this, Republicans were effectively locked into voting against a congressional resolution that would restore the FCC’s jurisdiction over ISPs other terms and conditions of service (e.g., net neutrality) under “Title II” of the Communications Act. If the FCC’s authority to regulate ISPs under “Title II” were restored using the Congressional Resolution Act (CRA) process, neither the FTC nor the FCC would have clear jurisdiction to regulate the privacy practices of ISPs. 

[Fred Campbell is the director of Tech Knowledge, a Senior Policy Advisor with Wireless 20/20, and an adjunct professor in the Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law program at the Nebraska College of Law]