FCC chair proposes 'bright-line' net neutrality rules
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler confirmed Wednesday heâs seeking strong net neutrality rules that regulate broadband service like a utility, matching a vision laid out by President Barack Obama and setting up a high-stakes standoff with the telecom industry and congressional Republicans. The move, which Wheeler announced in an online op-ed in Wired magazine, is expected to meet heavy resistance from the GOP Congress and Internet-service providers, which warn it will lead to burdensome regulation and hinder investment. AT&T has already said it will challenge such rules in court. Story Continued Below Wheelerâs plan would prevent broadband providers from engaging in pay-for-play deals with companies for faster delivery of their content to consumers. It would also extend net neutrality rules to mobile devices and give the agency new authority over âinterconnectionâ agreements between ISPs and companies like Netflix aimed at unclogging network congestion. The full five-member commission is slated to vote on Wheelerâs plan on Feb. 26. âI am submitting to my colleagues the strongest open internet protections ever proposed by the FCC,â the chairman wrote. âThese enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the blocking and throttling of lawful content and services. I propose to fully applyâfor the first time everâthose bright-line rules to mobile broadband.â The announcement marks the biggest change in Internet policy in more than a decade and signals a new phase for the FCC as it tries to ensure that Internet providers treat all Web traffic equally. The agency is rewriting the rules after an appeals court threw out its 2010 Open Internet order. Wheeler, a former cable and cellphone industry lobbyist, got off to a rocky start with his initial replacement proposal, which would have allowed ISPs to charge content companies for an online fast lane to consumers. While the chairman said the commission would not allow such arrangements if they hurt consumers or competition, his plan sparked a backlash, generating about four million public comments, many of them negative. After that flare-up, Wheeler began work on a âhybridâ plan that drew from different legal strategies. But Obama jolted the debate in November by forcefully calling for the FCC to regulate broadband as a utility. The agency extended its deliberations, with Wheeler, a Democrat and Obama nominee, clearly feeling the pressure from the White House. The chairman, in his op-ed Wednesday, alluded to his evolution on the issue, which eventually led him to propose the stronger set of rules. Under Wheelerâs new plan, the FCC would reclassify high-speed Internet as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act, the same way it does with telephone service. The move would broaden the agencyâs authority to regulate Internet-service providers. But the chairman made clear the FCC will not seek to set broadband prices for consumers. It will avoid that by sidestepping parts of the law â a concept known in regulatory jargon as âforbearance.â The plan won praise from many Hill Democrats and public interest groups whoâve pushed Wheeler to take a tougher line. âHeâs listening to the American people, setting aside the political tricks of the ISPs, and restoring the right foundation for the Open Internet and our countryâs broadband future,â said Matt Wood, policy director for Free Press. Congressional Republicans, however, are seeking to thwart the FCCâs regulatory moves with their own net neutrality legislation. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Energy & Commerce Committee leaders Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) are working on a bill that would prevent ISPs from blocking or degrading Web traffic â while avoiding utility-style rules and restricting the FCCâs ability to regulate broadband. The plan âis not about net neutrality â it is a power grab for the federal government by the chairman of a supposedly independent agency who finally succumbed to the bully tactics of political activists and the president himself,â Thune said in a statement. The major Internet-service providers have already signaled their opposition to the utility-style option, with AT&T threatening a legal challenge to any such move. Wheeler himself has acknowledged that lawsuits may be inevitable, predicting in November the âbig dogs are gonna sueâ no matter what the agency comes up with on net neutrality. Verizon, which filed the lawsuit that overturned the FCCâs earlier set of net neutrality rules, called the chairmanâs proposal unnecessary and counterproductive, saying âthe FCC can address any harmful behavior without taking this radical stepâ and warning that âheavy regulation of the Internet will create uncertainty and chill investment among the many players.â The extension of net neutrality rules to interconnection agreements won praise from Netflix, which has clashed with the major broadband providers over streaming slowdowns. Netflix has signed deals with Comcast, AT&T and Verizon to improve delivery of its content, but has done so grudgingly, saying the telecoms should be responsible for fixing network bottlenecks and calling on the FCC to get involved. The two Republican members of the FCC, Ajit Pai and Mike OâRielly, are expected to oppose the chairmanâs proposal. That means Wheeler must depend on his two fellow Democrats on the commission, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, to back his plan in order to advance it on a 3-2 party line vote.