Pai Briefs House GOP on Net Neutrality Proposal; Walden Monitoring Legislative Prospects

Pai's appearance so close to the FCC's planned Dec. 14 vote was a coincidence, as it was “just his time” to appear as part of a series of “Meet the Secretary” briefings organized by House Republican Conference Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. “It's good timing for members who aren't involved” via House Commerce to follow the net neutrality debate, “an issue that obviously has some attention.” FCC members told us at a conference the same day a 3-2 vote is likely (see 1712070016).

Pai was mainly focused on “going over the general principles” of the net neutrality proposal, but it seemed he “has the support of the conference,” said House Digital Commerce Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio. Net neutrality is a “very emotional, fairly complex issue” for members who are “not on [House Commerce] and you don't deal with this issue” regularly, Shimkus said. “So I think those members are trying to get a handle on it.” Shimkus said he gave his own “elevator speech” to House Republicans on net neutrality, noting that “if the wheel's not broken, don't fix it.”

Walden told us he wants to “see what the FCC does” next week in its final net neutrality order before he decides how to move forward in his bid for compromise legislation. Walden attempted to move that bid forward over the summer but it stalled, including difficulties in getting executives from top ISPs and edge providers to testify at a now-indefinitely postponed hearing on the issue (see 1708300050). Congressional Democrats resisted Republicans' calls for a legislative compromise, with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., recently calling them a “ruse” (see 1707130063, 1708070068 and 1711270054). Walden believes Democrats' opposition remains a barrier but said he remains “open” if the situation changes.

Walden and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., urged Pai not to delay the Dec. 14 vote, announced later that day as proceeding as planned as lobbying restrictions on all meeting drafts kicked in. “We commend [Pai's] resolve in the face of the misinformed hysteria surrounding the subject of net neutrality, combined with the continuing outrageous personal attacks on him and his family,” the lawmakers said in a statement. “As we predicted, [Communications Act] Title II has been a drag on broadband investment, and reversing the prior commission’s power grab is a critical step in our efforts to supercharge deployment and improve access to broadband throughout America.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and others earlier this week called for a delay amid questions about millions of allegedly fake comments in docket 17-108 (see 1712040046). House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and 10 other House Democrats have also called for the GAO to investigate the fake comments.

Net Neutrality Notebook

Twitter continued to see much to and fro over next Thursday's vote, with FCC and FTC members and aides on both sides of the issue involved. FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny and FCC counterpart Mignon Clyburn had a "tweet storm this afternoon," Clyburn tweeted. "After-the-fact @FTC enforcement can't substitute for clear upfront rules," tweeted McSweeny. "To protect #consumers & #competition on the #Internet we must #SaveNetNeutrality." Another tweet of the FTC member cited her Tuesday Quartz commentary that said "scrapping" FCC "net neutrality rules will harm consumers and content creators," and the FTC "isn’t going to be able to stop it." A tweet from an unofficial account of acting FTC Chief Technologist Neil Chilson responded to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeting about McSweeny's tweet. Chilson said that FTC member is only "**a** FTC commissioner, right, @JRosenworcel? Because the FTC Chairman, @MOhlhausenFTC, has studied #NetNeutrality for over a decade and has a different take."

Mayors are “deeply disturbed” by FCC efforts to pre-empt local authority in the draft order, said 58 mayors, including Democrats from Boston, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. They supported the 2015 order and “strongly” opposed Pai’s draft, said a Thursday letter to the five commissioners: The draft’s “preference for" FTC "enforcement means harm to the Internet and consumers must occur before the FTC can act, and then only after an elaborate and prolonged FTC proceeding.” Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mignon Clyburn debated the draft order at the Practising Law Institute conference Thursday morning (see 1712070016).

Public Knowledge joined others in slamming Google for blocking access to YouTube on Amazon’s Echo Show and Fire TV (see 1712060058 and 1712050057) while Amazon said the other company is potentially setting a bad precedent. A spokeswoman for that company noted its Echo Show and Fire TV now display a standard web view of YouTube.com and point to YouTube’s website, and the company hopes to resolve the spat as soon as possible: "Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website." Amazon and Google "are putting consumers in the middle of a corporate battle between the two technology giants," PK said Wednesday. "Both companies should live up to their stated values and end this standoff," Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said of Google's mission to "organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful," and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos calling Amazon "the everything store." Though "responsibilities of platform companies" "are (and should be) different than those of telecommunications carriers like broadband providers, they are still very real," Bergmayer said. Google again said Thursday it's trying to reach a pact and hopes to get one soon, but "Amazon doesn't carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest's latest products." It didn't comment further, and the Internet Association continued not commenting.