FCC chairman: Our job is to protect a free and open internet
FCC chairman: Our job is to protect a free and open
internet
Commentary: Ajit Pai says the Restoring Internet Freedom
Order, which takes effect Monday, protects consumers and will promote better
access to the internet.
By AJIT PAI JUNE 10, 2018 9:01 PM PDT
I support a free and open internet. The internet should
be an open platform where you are free to go where you want, and say and do
what you want, without having to ask anyone's permission. And under the Federal
Communications Commission's Restoring Internet Freedom Order, which takes
effect Monday, the internet will be just such an open platform. Our framework
will protect consumers and promote better, faster internet access and more
competition.
Our approach includes strong consumer protections. For
example, we empower the Federal Trade Commission to police internet service
providers for anticompetitive acts and unfair or deceptive practices. In 2015,
the FCC stripped the FTC -- the nation's premier consumer protection agency --
of its authority over internet service providers. This was a loss for consumers
and a mistake we have reversed. Starting Monday, the FTC will once again be
able to protect Americans consistently across the internet economy, and the FCC
will work hand-in-hand with our partners at the FTC to do just that.
Transparency is also a critical part of our framework. In
the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, the FCC strengthened its transparency
rule so that internet service providers must make public more information about
their network management practices. They are required to make this information
available either on their own website or on the FCC's website. This information
will allow consumers to make an informed decision about which internet service
provider is best for them and give entrepreneurs the information they need as
they develop new products and services. Our transparency rule will also help
ensure that any problematic conduct by internet service providers is quickly
identified and corrected.
Why am I confident that this approach will work? Because
it was a tremendous bipartisan success for two decades. At the dawn of the
commercial internet, President Clinton and a Republican Congress agreed on a
light-touch framework to regulating the internet. Under that approach, the
internet was open and free. Network investment topped $1.5 trillion. Netflix,
Facebook, Amazon, and Google went from small startups to global tech giants.
America's internet economy became the envy in the world.
But then in 2015, the FCC chose a different course and
slapped heavy-handed regulations from 1934 -- known as "Title II" --
on the internet. This was the wrong decision. Rules designed for the Ma Bell
monopoly during the era of rotary phones were a poor fit for the greatest
innovation of our time, the internet. Following the FCC's decision, network
investment fell by billions of dollars -- the first time that had happened
outside of a recession in the broadband era.
The impact was especially harmful for smaller internet
service providers who didn't have the means to withstand a regulatory
onslaught. These providers often serve rural and lower-income areas where
better internet access and competition are most desperately needed. But they
were forced to spend scarce funds on regulatory compliance rather than building
out broadband to more Americans.
Monday, we are ending this flawed approach and allowing
smaller internet service providers to focus their efforts on deploying more
broadband, connecting more Americans with digital opportunity, and offering
more competition in the marketplace.
That approach will be very positive for consumers. For
instance, recently I heard from a rural broadband provider in Vermont called
VTel. VTel wrote to say that "regulating broadband like legacy telephone
service would not create any incentives for VTel to invest in its network. In
fact, it would have precisely the opposite effect." The company went on to
say that it's now "quite optimistic about the future, and the current FCC
is a significant reason for our optimism." Indeed, VTel just announced that
it has committed $4 million to upgrade its 4G LTE service and to begin rolling
out faster mobile broadband that will start its transition to 5G, the next
generation of wireless connectivity.
The bottom line is that our regulatory framework will
both protect the free and open internet and deliver more digital opportunity to
more Americans. It's worked before and it will work again. Our goal is simple:
better, faster, cheaper internet access for American consumers who are in
control of their own online experience. And that's what the FCC's Restoring
Internet Freedom Order will deliver.
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