Oracle Urges FCC to Undo Wheeler 'Favoritism' on Broadband Privacy, Title II, Set-Tops
Oracle said the FCC should repudiate its prior policy of "favoring" one tech subsector over others and "establish a more level playing field," starting with actions on broadband privacy, broadband classification and cable set-top boxes. Under previous Chairman Tom Wheeler,…
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the commission "routinely picked winners and losers in the complex and converging network ecosystem," said Senior Vice President Kenneth Glueck, Office of CEO, in a letter Monday in docket 14-28. "The prior Commission orchestrated a shift of network control from those that invest in the network to those that do not, and a shift in welfare from those that were regulated to those that were not. We urge you to return the FCC to technology- and competitor-neutral policymaking." The commission should reconsider broadband privacy rules "to ensure a consistent and fair approach," Oracle said, calling a recent FCC stay of a new ISP-specific data security rule a "laudable first step" (see 1703010069). The tech firm urged the agency to reclassify broadband internet access from a Communications Act Title II telecom service to a Title I information service "to eliminate burdens on, and competitive imbalances for, ISPs while still preserving the free and open Internet." The set-top box proceeding should be closed "to put to bed the FCC’s ill-advised interventionist instinct and instead rely on the intense innovation and competition in the marketplace," the software maker said. The FCC should work closely with the FTC, the company said.