The Federal Communications Commission issued its final rule on Restoring Internet Freedom on February 22, 2018. The regulations will restore the light touch regulatory system that allowed the Internet to flourish, eliminate government micromanagement, and ensure that no company can censor, discriminate, or block free competition online.
However, one would not know that from the vitriol spewing from Title II proponents, who feel they have struck partisan gold on this issue, using the totem-like power of the abstract “net neutrality” incantation to inflame like-minded Internet trolls. Instead of building consensus, they have launched a massive and expensive campaign to destroy the widespread support for enforceable net neutrality rules, which will do nothing to marshal support for bipartisan legislation that would update the telecommunications laws and permanently ensure fair treatment of all traffic online.
Indeed, these agitators are urging members to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order and reimpose the flawed 2015 rules. It would also eliminate the Federal Trade Commission’s just-restored power over broadband, which applies equally to all players in the Internet ecosystem. That would be a loss for consumers and everyone who cares about or depends on Internet freedom.
Ironically, the CRA would set back two critical national priorities – bridging the “digital divide” and creating more jobs. The CRA would result in the re-establishment of the Obama administration’s overreaching 2015 net neutrality rules, which exploited consensus support for an open Internet in order to consolidate government power over cyberspace. Those rules picked winners and losers in the marketplace by covering only Internet service providers and exempting search and social media platforms.
The 2015 rules undermined new broadband construction and deployment of new high speed networks to connect under-served communities, driving away as much as $35 billion a year in needed investment. That’s why the NAACP and the Communications Workers Union urged a different path for Internet governance in 2015.
Passage of a CRA would leave the issue in limbo, launching another era of shifting regulation and uncertain litigation that would leave Internet users and businesses holding the bag. It would also create an uneven playing field and allow content providers to prioritize data, censor viewpoints, and undermine competition online.
The four open Internet principles adopted by the FCC on August 5, 2005, were never controversial. They encouraged broadband deployment and preserved an open Internet by entitling consumers to (1) access to lawful content of their choice, (2) run applications and services of their choice, (3) connect to legal devices that do not harm the Internet, and (4) competition among network, application, service, and content providers.
Instead of honoring this consensus, the 2015 Obama rules used the term “net neutrality” as political cover to smuggle through sweeping economic and technical regulations for Internet operations that go far beyond net neutrality. They smothered innovation, drove away private-sector risk-takers, and essentially required government permission slips before new products or services could be launched.
Under President Trump, the FCC wisely scaled back those overbearing regulations in order to establish a freer, more open Internet.
The four principles adopted in 2005, followed by the aberrant rules adopted in 2015 and the reversal of those rules in 2017, conclusively demonstrate the urgent need for Congress to bring closure to this issue by updating the telecommunications laws. While there have been hearings and discussions, no action has been taken to bring legislation to the floor that would result in a strong, fair, and permanent law to keep the entire Internet free and open, ensure the FTC retains its power to protect consumers, and cover all of cyberspace, from content providers to service providers to consumers.
In addition, such a lasting free market, pro-competition statute would keep the spigot of investment and new construction open to ensure broadband reaches all Americans and creates as many jobs as possible.
Congress would do taxpayers and consumers a big favor if it stared down the grandstanders and passed bipartisan, even-handed legislation to protect online openness and eliminate the possibility that the FCC or any other agency could once again adopt rules that would favor one part of the Internet ecosystem over another.
Deborah Collier (@dcolliercagw) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is director of Technology & Telecommunications Policy at Citizens Against Government Waste.
