To all the critics of net neutrality who believe the Federal Communications Commission under President-elect Trump will reverse its decision on Open Internet rules, think again says the outgoing chairman of the agency.
Delivering what may be his final speech as chairman at an Aspen Institute event in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Thomas Wheeler said “Contrary to what you might have heard, reversing the Open Internet rules is not a slam dunk.”
In 2015, the Democrat-controlled agency ruled after a party-line vote to classify Internet service providers as Title II public utilities subject to FCC control, which allowed more stringent oversight over Internet service providers that weren’t treating all web traffic equally. FCC Republicans have expressed concern that the ruling provides the commission “unmitigated power” to regulate the Internet.
The ruling was upheld in a federal appeals court last year.
But with Wheeler resigning, and the FCC chairmanship expected to be handed over to Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai, net neutrality’s short-lived existence seemed to be in jeopardy according to its detractors. After Trump was elected in November, Pai said in a speech that he was “more confident than ever” that his prediction that net neutrality regulation’s days are numbered would come true.
Wheeler defended the open Internet as being “the most powerful engine for innovation, economic growth and job creation in the world today.”
“In the year after the Open Internet rules were adopted, venture investment in Internet-specific businesses was up 35 percent,” Wheeler said. “Open markets invite innovation.”
Wheeler said that an FCC after his departure this month, along with another Democrat on the five-member panel, leaving it open for Republican control, needs to make a strong case as to “why the American tradition of open networks should be reversed.”
“In short, a lot happened leading up to the 2015 decision — it is hard to make a case that the past two years come even close to that revolutionary period,” Wheeler said.
“The recent D.C. Circuit decision was a strong and resounding affirmation of the FCC’s authority as well as the soundness of its decision based on the record. If there is a reversal of the Open Internet rule, it will have a high hurdle to vault to prove to the same court why its 2016 decision was wrong.”
