The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission announced on Wednesday that he would be distributing his proposal to ensure “Net Neutrality” to fellow commissioners this week, ahead of a formal vote later in the month.
In an op-ed published in Wired, FCC chief Tom Wheeler said, “I am proposing that the FCC use its Title II authority to implement and enforce open internet protections.”
Wheeler was referring to a mechanism authorized under of the Commutations Act that would give the FCC the ability to more broadly regulate internet service providers.
The formal proposal, which will be in the hands of the four other commissioners in the coming days, is “rooted in long-standing regulatory principles, marketplace experience, and public input received over the last several months,” according to Wheeler.
According to the chairman, his proposal will include “enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services.” He noted that “for the first time ever,” these Net Neutrality rules would apply to mobile broadband as well.
“My proposal assures the rights of internet users to go where they want, when they want, and the rights of innovators to introduce new products without asking anyone’s permission,” Wheeler wrote.
He was careful to note, however, that proposed Title II reclassification won’t come with all the regulatory burdens that critics who’ve objected to the move have warned about.
“My proposal will modernize Title II, tailoring it for the 21st century, in order to provide returns necessary to construct competitive networks,” Wheeler said. That means the telecoms will not be subject to rate regulation, tariffs, or “last-mile bundling.”
These are the most details Wheeler has provided about his forthcoming proposal since speaking at Consumer Electronics Show last month, where he announced that the commission would hold a Feb. 26 vote on open internet rules.
The Sentinel reported at the time that one former FCC commissioner warned Wheeler not to bow to political pressure and make too many regulatory concessions to the ISP’s when considering Title II reclassification.
“The authority of the Commission to act on consumer protection, privacy, public safety, universal service, disability, and reasonableness standards must not be compromised or frittered away in some misguided effort to tone down opposition to reclassification,”former FCC commissioner Michael Copps said in a post on the website of the public interest group Common Cause.
At the end of January, House Republicans held a hearing on legislation that would pre-empt the FCC’s authority to use Title II. However, as The Sentinel noted, most of the GOP’s own witnesses testified that the bill was misguided, and endorsed some form of Title II reclassification by the FCC.
