 Wheeler outlined the plan in an article for Wired magazine last week and it will
be considered for a vote by the commission Feb. 26.
The plan has not yet been released to the public, but at least one FCC
commissioner who has seen it isn’t taking the bait.
“It gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the
Internet works,” said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai in a statement after the plan’s
release. “It’s no wonder that net neutrality proponents are already bragging
that it will turn the FCC into the “Department of the Internet.”
“For that reason, if you like dealing with the IRS, you are going to love the
President’s plan,” said Pai.
He also criticized Wheeler for not making the proposal publicly available on the
FCC’s website.
The 332-page proposal, if adopted by the five-member commission, will give the
FCC the ability to ban certain Internet access plans and regulate Internet
service providers to ensure it remains “fast, fair and open,” according to
Wheeler.
“These enforceable, bright-line rules will ban paid prioritization, and the
blocking and throttling of lawful content and services,” wrote Wheeler on
Wired.com. “This means the action we take will be strong enough and flexible
enough not only to deal with the realities of today, but also to establish
ground rules for the as yet unimagined.”
Though all five members of the commission were appointed by President Barack
Obama, at least two were nominated by Republicans, most likely guaranteeing a
3-2 vote at the end of this month.
The partisan pursuit of adopting this plan has enraged several top-name
Democrats who now head the Internet Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit
organization aimed towards universal broadband access for Americans.
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 They penned an op-ed in USAToday over the weekend calling on the
FCC to scrap the plan and start all over, claiming Wheeler has
proposed “regulating our most advanced companies based on the rules
designed for our oldest,” and that he must work with all parties to
make certain Internet consumers are not harmed by rampant government
legislation.
“A better way to preserve the open Internet, protect consumers
and promote innovation is to encourage the private investment
necessary to support the deployment of high-speed, next-generation
broadband nationwide,” said former Democratic Congressman Rick
Boucher, chairman of the group, in a statement following the
announcement of Wheeler’s proposal.
“For more than two decades, from the earliest days of the Internet,
I along with most Democrats involved in development of our nation’s
Internet policy, have advocated a light regulatory touch for the
Internet,” added IIA founder Larry Iriving, former assistant
commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton. “I still believe
that to be preferable to utility-style regulation for the
fast-moving and constantly evolving Internet.”
As a member of the FCC commission, Pai sees the plan as especially
harmful to the small innovators so often championed by proponents of
net neutrality.
“The plan saddles small, independent businesses and entrepreneurs
with heavy-handed regulations that will push them out of the
market,” said Pai. “As a result, Americans will have fewer broadband
choices. This is no accident. Title II was designed to regulate a
monopoly. If we impose that model on a vibrant broadband
marketplace, a highly regulated monopoly is what we’ll get.”
[This
article courtesy of
Watchdog.]
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