Copps to FCC Chairman: You'll Have to Earn My Vote
December 3, 2010
| 12:44 PM
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, one of two critical Democratic votes that agency Chairman Julius Genachowski will need (in addition to his own) to adopt new rules of the road for the Internet, signaled yesterday that his support won't come easy. During a Thursday speech before the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York, Copps made clear that some aspects of Genachowski's proposal to expand and strengthen the agency's network neutrality rules, which are designed to preserve the Internet's openness, don't sit well with him.
Genachowski cut some significant breaks to telecom and cable industries in an effort to win support from key players, including AT&T and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. A major concessions involves permitting companies to pay for priority treatment on the Internet, a model known as "paid prioritization." According to analysts, the FCC is expected to allow these arrangements as long as there is no competitive harm.
During his speech, Copps panned the idea, insisting that it "cannot be allowed
to supplant the quality of the public Internet service available to us all." Addressing concerns that Genachowski's plan only extends modest safeguards to wireless broadband, Copps said: "Internet Freedom also means guaranteeing openness in the wireless world as well as the wired. As people cut their wired connections, why would we deny them openness, accessibility and consumer protections in the wireless world?"
Copps also said that his preference is for the FCC to move forward with stricter net neutrality rules under a legal framework rooted in Title II of the 1934 Communications Act. This would involve classifying broadband a telecommunications utility subject to heavy regulation. Genachowski prefers a Title I approach that would classify broadband as a more lightly regulated information service - but would stand on shakier legal ground. "If this requires reclassifying advanced telecommunications as Title II telecommunications -- and I continue to believe this is the best way to go -- we should just do it and get it over with," Copps said.
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus