Network Neutrality

The Internet Innovation Alliance, a lobbying organization for AT&T and broadband plant suppliers like Alcatel-Lucent and Corning, says that a survey it commissioned concludes that consumers use the internet primarily as an information service.

A majority of the respondents said they used the net to get information, like reading and or catching up on the news and sports (71%), searching for information via Google or Bing or other engines (61%), or researching products or services (60%). The poll, conducted online by CivicScience, was of at least 10,000 U.S. adults 18 and older. IIA says the poll "reaffirms the FCC’s assumptions that broadband, is by definition, an information service."

August 30th could very well mark the official beginning of the end for the Open Internet. With the closing of the public comment period for the Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding to repeal the 2015 Net Neutrality rules, the record is now full of tens of millions of comments, many of them demonstrably fake. Incredibly, it doesn’t even matter if the facts are real or alternative because FCC Chairman Ajit Pai intends to ignore them all so that he can eliminate the rules and protections for Internet users and innovators as quickly as possible – which also explains why he refuses to make public information that is critical to his FCC’s decision making.

It’s no secret that American consumers regardless of party affiliation overwhelmingly support basic rules that protect them and the Open Internet they increasingly depend upon. They expect and deserve the freedom to choose what they see, buy, hear and share. They made that abundantly clear earlier this year when Congress rushed to repeal another set of Internet consumer protections, the broadband privacy rules, and they will do so again. If Chairman Pai intends to pursue that same rash, anti-consumer agenda and expects a different result, he is fooling himself.

[Commentary] According to a new survey, Americans overwhelmingly favor a permanent law over regulations that can be changed from administration to administration. Indeed, 74 percent of Americans said they would support net neutrality legislation that enabled them to use the internet free from government or corporate censorship, while creating rules that ensure a level playing field. It’s time to end the slowest game of policy pingpong before it drags into another decade.

It is high time for Congress to finally step up — after multiple decades of hibernation — and pass affirmative, bipartisan legislation that makes net neutrality the law of the land. That is something that CALinnovates has proposed for three years now; we are gratified that others are finally jumping on the bandwagon. Congress must wake from its two-decade slumber regarding internet policy to take the decision away from the FCC and cement net neutrality once and for all.

[Mike Montgomery is the executive director of CALinnovates]

A new poll of U.S. consumers has found 74% supporting legislation that enshrines the principals of Network Neutrality. The poll suggests consumers are comfortable with Congress taking the issue out of the hands of the FCC and setting the policy in stone. "Americans overwhelmingly favor a permanent net neutrality law over FCC regulations that can be changed from administration to administration," said Mike Montgomery, Executive Director of CALinnovates, a non-partisan tech advocacy group based in San Francisco, which conducted the survey. Previous research has suggested consumers are growing more concerned about Net Neutrality issues, such as potential throttling, blocking, and the creation of so-called fast lanes. Younger consumers appear to feel more strongly about the legislative route than their older counterparts. In fact, 18 to 29 year-olds were almost twice as likely to support making Net Neutrality the law of the land than continuing to leave the issue up to the FCC.

[Commentary] Giant Internet service providers and their armies of policy allies often try to frame the effort [to dismantle network neutrality] as a noble quest for deregulation, often insisting they're somehow "restoring internet freedom" in a bare-knuckled attempt to pander to partisan constituents. But by any sane measure the Federal Communications Commission's quest is little more than a massive gift to despised duopolies like Comcast -- at what might be the worst possible time for a severely dysfunctional industry. But there are signs that even many traditional big ISP allies think Ajit Pai's plan is absurdly extreme.

Telecom isn't a normal industry; it suffers from regulatory capture on both the state and federal level, which acts to prop up noncompetitive duopoly fiefdoms nationwide. Removing oversight of this sector without fixing any of the underlying corruption and dysfunction doesn't magically forge Utopia; it simply makes companies like Comcast less accountable than ever. And again, with broadband competition diminishing as many telcos refuse to upgrade their networks, that's a recipe for disaster.

[Commentary] Fostering competition and punishing anti-competitive conduct creates an environment where innovators can create new products and services in response to consumer demand more freely, without having to spend time and money to comply with static, “one-size-fits-all” regulations from Washington, D.C. With that in mind, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with its jurisdiction over our nation’s antitrust and competition laws, is ideally equipped to both protect the interests of consumers and foster competition in the ISP marketplace.
FTC enforcement of antitrust laws preserves innovation and consumer benefits.
FTC has the most extensive experience to address anticompetitive conduct.
FTC provides regulatory certainty and prevents overregulation.

[Rep Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee]

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to reclassify broadband as an information service – the status it had for nearly two decades under which the internet grew and flourished -- has received over 20 million comments expressing views on both sides of the issue. Amid all the noise, it’s important to ensure that one aspect of the rulemaking not be overlooked: its huge impact on rural America.

The best way to ensure that all corners of the country get the connectivity they need is for the FCC to restore the classification of broadband as an information service. Thereafter, Congress should enact legislation that codifies open internet rules and at long last puts to rest a debate that has raged for more than a decade.

[Rick Boucher was a Democratic member of the US House for 28 years and chaired the House Communications Subcommittee. He is honorary chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA) and head of the government strategies practice at the law firm Sidley Austin.]

Americans clearly care about network neutrality, but to understand all that’s at stake, let’s take a closer look at what, exactly, “net neutrality” is and why it’s in the news. With so much at stake, millions of people are voicing their support for net neutrality and asking the Federal Communications Commission to keep the current rules in place. Anyone can submit comments through the FCC’s website until Aug. 30. The FCC could vote on a proposal by the end of the year, after which the battle may shift to the courts and Congress—so it is important to contact your elected officials and let them know you support net neutrality. The Trump administration’s effort to repeal net neutrality has created great uncertainty about the future of the internet, but one thing is certain: This fight won’t be over any time soon.

[Commentary] Amid the avalanche of Title II comments were comments filed by eleven Democratic members of Congress—several of whom sit on the House Commerce Committee—who claim their background working on telecommunication issues over the years gives them the “unique ability to provide input on the actual meaning and intent” of both the Communications Act and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. A simple review of the plain text of these statutes and the substantial case law interpreting them, however, appear to raise doubts about that claim.

Let’s start with the Congressmen’s central argument that the FCC “fundamentally and profoundly misstates the law” because the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemmaking (NPRM) “takes an impermissibly narrow view” of the Communications Act’s “public interest” standard. “Any action the FCC takes based on the analysis contained in the proposal,” they claim, “will be legally flawed and contrary to the law.” The problem with this argument is that regardless of how one views the “public interest” standard, application of this standard is irrelevant to the fundamental legal question raised in the NPRM. The Congressmen next argue that by reversing reclassification, the FCC “would remove the statutory privacy rules that can protect broadband users before they are harmed.” Again, this argument is legally inaccurate. The Democrat lawmakers’ third major legal argument is that the FCC is improperly focusing on whether the 2015 Open Internet Order depressed investment in broadband infrastructure. Every serious attempt to analyze the data indicates that the prospect of Title II regulation has reduced investment in broadband infrastructure, and by a significant amount.

At some point, we all hope that Congress will step up and pass some sort of Open Internet legislation to put this debate to bed. If that effort is to be successful, then it is incumbent on Members of Congress to bring greater focus, insight and analytical rigor than they demonstrated in this particular filing.

[Lawrence Spiwak is the President of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies]

After four months of debate, the Federal Communications Commission is nearly ready to stop accepting feedback on its proposal to kill network neutrality. Final comments are due Wednesday, August 30th, by end-of-day Eastern time. Once the comment period closes, the FCC will review the feedback it received and use it as guidance to revise its proposal, which if passed, would reverse the Title II classification that guaranteed net neutrality just two years ago. The commission is supposed to factor in all of the feedback it received when writing its final draft, so if you do have strong feelings on the matter, it’s worth leaving a comment. And clearly, this proceeding has struck a chord.

There are currently almost 22 million filings on the proposal, setting a dramatic new record at the FCC. The last net neutrality proceeding set the prior FCC comment record at what at the time seemed like a whopping 3.7 million responses.