Wheeler Reiterates Support for Open Internet, Says View in Line With Obama's
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he and President Barack Obama have “always agreed about the importance of an open Internet” and reiterated that he’s always been opposed to creating “two, three, or four tiers.”
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Wheeler’s comments came unprompted during a Q&A session with reporters after Friday’s open commission meeting. Asked if he’s had conversations with Obama or White House staff, Wheeler said he was not spoken with the president but has kept the administration updated. He then went on to say, “I just want to be clear my position is unchanged.” The comments came after Obama said at a Los Angeles town hall meeting earlier this month that he’s “unequivocally committed” to net neutrality (see 1410140107). Obama said, “what I've been clear about, what the White House has been clear about, is that we expect whatever final rules to emerge to make sure that we're not creating two or three or four tiers of Internet."
Wheeler pointed to his statements with the issuance of May’s Open Internet NPRN (http://fcc.us/1iQi7yl) that prioritization that “hurts the virtuous cycle, or is anti-competitive, anti-consumer, or anti-innovation, or degrades the network is dead on arrival.” Wheeler also said that he also said he’d oppose the prospect of “a gatekeeper choosing winners or losers.”
The remarks Friday did not soften opposition from net neutrality advocates, who continued to oppose the idea of “commercially reasonable” arrangements posed in the NPRM. “Chairman Wheeler may think he and the president agree about Net Neutrality, but his proposed rules tell a different story,” Free Press President Craig Aaron said in a statement. “Unless the FCC reverses course and issues a new proposal, there is no way that Wheeler can square his rules with the president’s goals.”
“As the court in January made clear, the only way the FCC can protect the open Internet, prevent paid prioritization and preserve an open communications pathway is by reclassifying broadband providers as common carriers,” Aaron said. “It’s clear this is what both the president and the public want, and reclassification is the only way to achieve this goal. It’s time for the agency to push aside all of the lies and scare tactics about Title II, and restore consumers’ basic legal protections against unreasonable discrimination.”