Today, Public Knowledge, joined by Common Cause, submitted comments in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Open Internet proceeding. The comments explain the importance of strong and enforceable Open Internet rules.
The comments call for the FCC to act quickly in creating Open Internet rules that would withstand court challenge. Public Knowledge writes that using Title II would ground the Open Internet rules in strong statutory authority, making them stronger in court. “Problems like interconnection disputes and the cost of network exclusion are solved in the Title II context,” writes Michael Weinberg, Vice President at Public Knowledge. “And those solutions could be helpful moving forward.”
Furthermore, the comments highlight that the same principles that govern our phone system should be applied to the regulation of broadband. “Broadband internet is quickly becoming the de facto basic communications service for this century,” writes Weinberg. “It is reasonable to begin applying them to broadband internet access.”
The following can be attributed to Michael Weinberg, Vice President at Public Knowledge:
“The Open Internet is key to a vibrant cultural, economic, and civic life, and the FCC has an obligation to protect it. Our comments draw out the problems of using 706 as the means to create strong and enforceable Open Internet rules and shows that reclassifying under Title II is the best option.
“The DC Circuit’s ruling made it clear that the FCC has authority to promote rural and municipal broadband, especially by preempting state laws that limit local broadband solutions. The FCC should act on that authority and clear the way for more rural and municipal broadband deployment.”
Public Knowledge’s comments can be found here.
A blog post about the comments can be found here.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.