Net neutrality comments pour into the FCC

Net neutrality comments poured into the FCC as the first round of official commenting closed. The FCC received more than 9.7 million individual comments following a John Oliver publicity campaign and a day of action by public interest groups in addition to substantive comments from industry, labor, civil rights, and consumer groups.

Earlier this year, the FCC voted 2-1 along party lines to start the process to make significant changes in the net neutrality order adopted by the FCC under Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler in 2015. Republican Chairman Pai’s proposal aims to reclassify broadband under Title I (information service), instead of its current classification under Title II (telecommunications service).The FCC proposal also seeks comment on whether to keep the three bright-line Open Internet rules adopted in 2015. The rules prohibit slowing down, blocking, and paid prioritization of Internet content, and aim to keep the Internet fast, open, and fair.

The Communications Workers of America has long supported rules to ensure an open Internet and net neutrality in general. In recent joint comments, the union and the NAACP said that the Commission must “protect the openness that is critical to the Internet’s success” while encouraging “investment by broadband providers and application, content and service providers.” Together they called on the FCC to adopt four rules applicable to fixed and wireless broadband Internet access service providers:

• No blocking.

• No throttling.

• No unreasonable discrimination.

• Enhanced transparency.

ISPs – including AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and Comcast – want to reclassify broadband as a Title I information service. AT&T and Frontier wrote that they are committed to the fundamental principles of Internet freedom – no blocking, throttling, or unreasonable discrimination. Large tech companies, many represented by the Internet Association, wrote that the Commission “should maintain its existing net neutrality rules and must not weaken their firm legal basis.”

At least 14 stateattorneys general and many public interest groups, including Free Press, Public Knowledge, and Common Cause,  support the current Title II classification. “By returning to Title II in 2015, the Commission placed its longstanding Net Neutrality policies and principles on solid legal footing,” Free Press said in its filing. “It returned to the common carriage foundation that has always undergirded the transmission of information (including Internet data) over telecom networks.”

Librarians, the Council of New York City, and edge providers such as Netflix joined with CWA and the NAACP in supporting strong open Internet rules and sound legal framework to enforce them.

Read CWA and the NAACP’s comments here.

Links:

FCC votes to move forward with proposed changes to net neutrality (Speed Matters, May 19, 2017)

CWA Endorses Arrival of Net Neutrality Rules (Speed Matters, Sept. 27, 2011)

CWA, NAACP call for ‘strong, legally enforceable rules’ on open Internet (Speed Matters, July 17, 2017)