FCC Extends Deadline for Net Neutrality Replies as Carr, Rosenworcel Take Oath of Office
The FCC now has a full house, with Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel sworn in as commissioners Friday. Meanwhile, the FCC found middle ground on net neutrality replies, extending the deadline for two weeks, from Wednesday until Aug. 30. It took a little longer than expected for Carr and Rosenworcel to be sworn in because of delays in transmitting their paperwork from the White House to the FCC (see 1708090065). Tom Green, head-human resources management, swore in both commissioners.
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The two-week extension is less time than the eight weeks sought by various groups led by Public Knowledge (see 1708030045). But CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom last week jointly asked the FCC not to extend the reply deadline at all, or at least by no more than 10 days, saying the record is well developed. Friday's Wireline Bureau order addresses both filings. Providing more time potentially could help the FCC by showing an appeals court it bent over backward to accept comment when its eventual new rules are inevitably challenged (see 1708070069).
“While it is the policy of the Commission that ‘extensions shall not be routinely granted,’ we find that an extension of the reply comment deadline is appropriate in this case in order to allow interested parties to respond to the record,” the bureau found. “While we recognize that Movants have requested an eight-week extension of the reply comment deadline, we find, consistent with past Commission precedent granting partial extensions, that an additional two weeks is an appropriate period of time to extend the reply comment deadline in order to provide parties additional time to analyze the technical, legal, and policy arguments raised by initial commenters.”
The order notes that “the vast majority of comments” are extremely short and simply state the commenter’s “ultimate policy preferences.” It acknowledges reports that many of the comments are “apparently fabricated, not associated with the actual individuals whose names appear on them (where any such name appears at all).” The FCC isn't equipped to investigate the legitimacy of each of the millions of net neutrality comments, and trying to do so would waste taxpayer resources, Tech Knowledge Director Fred Campbell wrote in a Forbes opinion piece Friday. Agencies don't have to respond to all comments or analyze each issue raised because doing so would invite widespread special interest abuse of the public comment process, he said.
Chairman Ajit Pai “should be commended for adopting a reasonable extension to ensure that the commission can develop as complete a record as possible to help it answer the complex legal and economic questions raised in the NPRM,” said Lawrence Spiwak, president of the Phoenix Center. "The big question is whether parties will use this reasonable extension of time to file meaningful critiques to arguments raised in the initial comment round or rather just use the additional two weeks to pad the record with as much sophistic clicktivism as they can muster."
The FCC was right to take note of the likelihood that "literally millions of the so-called ‘comments’ that are being filed are most likely fraudulent," said Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation. "I worry greatly about the damage to the commission’s institutional integrity that may be inflicted by these bot-driven campaigns with a high propensity for fraud."
Pai meantime welcomed his two new colleagues. Carr was his longtime wireless aide before becoming general counsel. Rosenworcel returns after having to leave in January when her previous term expired. “I’m pleased that the Commission is once again at full capacity,” Pai said.
"I look forward to hitting the ground running and working with my colleagues at the Commission to serve the public interest," Carr said. Rosenworcel said that “no matter who you are or where you live, you need access to modern communications to have a fair shot at 21st century success." The FCC website now lists both new commissioners.