The FCC draft "restoring internet freedom" order cites studies to show the 2015 net neutrality order hurt the economy. Such arguments have been disputed, but court watchers agree for the most part that when legal challenges are filed, judges are likely to give the analysis little scrutiny. NCTA CEO Michael Powell told reporters Wednesday consumers will see no change due to the order. The National Hispanic Media Coalition said it expects to take the regulator to court, and states may as well.
Lawmakers focused on artificial intelligence technology filed legislation Tuesday, the day a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing focusing on AI algorithm issues that could require congressional action. Lawmakers and industry witnesses cited the need for the federal government to encourage U.S. AI industry development, given involvement of foreign governments in expanding their countries' sectors.
The FCC is obstructing a law enforcement investigation, the New York attorney general’s office said Friday. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel slammed her agency’s general counsel for refusing to cooperate with the probe into allegedly fake comments in the proceeding to rescind some net neutrality rules (see 1712040046). FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson wrote in a Thursday letter to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) the commission declined the request.
Protests highlight growing resistance to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plan to undo net neutrality regulation and Communications Act Title II broadband classification, said organizers of 700 demonstrations they say were held across the country Thursday. Attendees said much the same thing. But the protests won't change any votes at the FCC's decisive Thursday meeting, it's widely believed. Self-identified Republicans, independents and Democrats were among protesters, they said on the sidelines.
A congressional infrastructure package isn't expected to contain broadband funding, said Grace Koh, National Economic Council technology, telecom and cybersecurity assistant to President Donald Trump. "I don't think broadband is going to be a set-aside" in legislation, though high-speed deployment could be encouraged in other ways, she said at a Practicing Law Institute conference Thursday morning. Other PLI news: 1712070063 and 1712070047.
Debate over the FCC's impending vote to rescind 2015 net neutrality rules returned to Capitol Hill Wednesday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai briefed the Senate Republican Caucus on the details of his draft order. Supporters of the 2015 rules -- Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. -- joined former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and former General Counsel Jonathan Sallet on a conference call with reporters to criticize Pai's plan. Lawmakers' interest ramped up ahead of commissioners' planned Dec. 14 vote, with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and other Democrats calling for delay (see 1712040046 and 1712050057).
An FCC draft order to undo Title II net neutrality appears legally strong, said some attorneys on a Phoenix Center panel, but another questioned aspects. Chairman Ajit Pai's draft to restore a less-regulatory Communications Act Title I broadband framework has precedent, deference and investment arguments in its favor, said Tom Navin, a Wiley Rein attorney and ex-Wireline Bureau chief. At around the same time Tuesday, a pro-Title II panel was held (see 1712050057).
House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told a New America conference FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s net neutrality proposal won’t just roll back rules to before the 2015 regulations, it will mean “turning the clock back to zero.” Pai is wrong that getting rid of the rules will mean “business as usual” for the internet, Doyle said. At around the same time Tuesday, an anti-Title II panel was held (see 1712050035). Pai made the opposite point to Doyle in a speech to an International Institute of Communications meeting in Washington.
The Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council meets Dec. 12, 1-5 p.m., in the FCC commission meeting room, says Tuesday's Federal Register.
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., spoke on the House floor Friday to urge her colleagues to oppose the FCC's draft order to rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules. Meanwhile, House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., was seeking fellow House members' signatures on a draft letter he intends to send to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urging him to delay consideration of the draft order, which the commission is to vote on at its Dec. 14 meeting (see 1711210020 and 1711220026). Congressional Democrats have strongly opposed the proposal since its late November release, cementing expectations that Capitol Hill won't be able to reach a legislative compromise on net neutrality during this Congress (see 1711210041 and 1711270054). “The internet belongs to all of us, not just the big ISPs,” Eshoo said Friday. She warned that the draft order “removes the FCC as the cop on the beat” on net neutrality, meaning there would be “nothing to stop” ISPs from “slowing or blocking a website or charging consumers more to access certain content.” The existing net neutrality rules “have been upheld in Federal Court and public opinion polls show strong support from all sides of the political spectrum,” Doyle said in a letter seeking colleagues' signatures on his pending Pai missive. “During the FCC’s public comment process to repeal the Open Internet Order, the Commission received more than 22 million comments that overwhelmingly called for the Commission to leave the current rules in place.”