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FCC Chair Clarifies Position On Net Neutrality Proposal

By Media Law Prof Blog

From the Washington Post: a report that  Tom Wheeler, the FCC Chair may be altering his approach on the net neutrality proposal that the Commissioners might see today. What’s unpopular among those who believe they know what’s in the proposal is the suggestion that ISPs can differentiate in terms of treatment between those content providers which pay for faster delivery of their content and those that don’t. The head of the FCC says the new rules he proposes would actually create a minimum level of service and that the agency would not allow ISPs to unduly slow access to those providers that don’t pay for additional service. More coverage here from Bloomberg Businessweek, which cites a Wall Street Journal article (registration required) as support for the idea that the FCC would not allow “anticompetitive behavior.”

Meanwhile Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has issued a statement on the Open Internet, which she has published on the FCC Blog. She says in part:

When I voted to approve the 2010 Open Internet Order, I voiced four concerns about the scope of the rules and the legal theory upon which the Order was based.

  • First, I made clear that I would have applied the fixed rules to mobile services. 
  • Second, “I would have prohibited pay for priority arrangements altogether.”
    •  Third, I would have made an open Internet available to all end users and encouraged the FCC to carefully monitor whether the exceptions in the Order jeopardized the principle that an open Internet truly is available to everyone.