Public Interest and Civil Rights Groups Support FCC's Call for Comments on Managed Services

An array of Labor and civil rights groups have announced their support for the FCC's call for public comment on the regulation of managed services and mobile broadband. These groups join the Communications Workers of America who commended the FCC's decision earlier this month.

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Senior Research Fellow Richard Bennett commended the FCC's thoughtful and deliberative approach to new broadband regulations:

Some pressure groups have hounded the FCC to make an election issue out of its Open Internet proceeding by handing down a rash decision. The Commission, under the able leadership of Chairman Genachowski, wisely concludes that the Internet is too important to the future of the American economy and our systems of education, health care, transportation, and environmental protection to be subjected to careless regulation that might have undesirable side effects on innovation. It is important for the FCC to strike the right balance between the needs of the Web applications we know today and those of future applications, regardless of how long it may take."

The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation also issued a statement strongly supporting the FCC's call for public comments:

We believe that the FCC's processes and actions have brought majority support for its open Internet principles: free speech, no blocking, no discrimination and transparency. We applaud the FCC's efforts today and join the call for Congress to take action to clarify the FCC's authority over broadband.

The Minority Media & Telecom Council firmly endorsed the commission's consensus-seeking efforts:

We believe that efforts to find common ground should continue with the goal of promoting investment, innovation and job creation. We should all be focused on creating new opportunities for minority businesses and on ensuring the affordability of broadband that will be necessary to increase minority broadband adoption.

Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of TechNet and Chairman of One Economy asserted the FCC's regulatory moves are attuned to the 'evolutionary' nature of broadband technology:

The FCC has now announced that the agency is seeking further public comment on issues related to "specialized" services and mobile broadband. They have set a 30-day comment period in this important matter. We believe this extension of time shows both wisdom and humility. There is no quick and easy answer to these complex challenges and there should not be a rush to a conclusion before a strong consensus is reached. This extension also recognizes the important reality that in both the short-term and long-term, technologies change and that some level of evolutionary rulemaking is required.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, The National Council on Black Civic Participation, and One Economy are Speed Matters partners.

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Statement by ITIF Senior Research Fellow Richard Bennett on Latest FCC Actions on Open Internet (ITIF)

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