FCC net neutrality vote: Why there鈥檚 a flurry of eleventh-hour lobbying
It鈥檚 all but certain that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on Thursday morning to approve Chairman Tom Wheeler鈥檚 plan for "net neutrality," which involves reclassifying providers of wired and wireless broadband Internet access as 鈥渃ommon carriers,鈥� subject to greater government oversight than those providers have had to endure for the past decade.
This oversight will enable the FCC to enforce its 鈥淥pen Internet鈥� principles, which require that broadband providers treat traffic flowing across their networks more or less equally, and prohibit those providers from favoring certain services over others.
But opponents of Chairman Wheeler鈥檚 plan 鈥� namely, broadband companies such as Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T, and industry advocacy organizations such as the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and CTIA - The Wireless Association 鈥� aren鈥檛 going down without a fight. These companies and groups have had hundreds of meetings with the FCC since last year, and held a flurry of in recent weeks.
Groups in favor of net neutrality rules, including companies such as Netflix and Mozilla and public-interest advocacy organizations such as Public Knowledge and Free Press, have also met with the FCC hundreds of times, urging the Commissioners to reclassify broadband providers as common carriers. In total, more than 4 million individuals and organizations commented on the FCC鈥檚 since it was posted early in 2014.
The House Energy and Commerce committee also Wednesday, giving lawmakers one last chance to share their views on net neutrality before the FCC votes on the proposal on Thursday. Wheeler鈥檚 plan to reclassify broadband providers is strongly supported by Democrats in Congress, but opposed by most Republicans.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the chairman of the Energy and Commerce committee, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) Wednesday that they seek to know more about how Wheeler鈥檚 rules were developed and whether they will stand up to review by a court. But while the hearing will include policy experts, Wheeler himself was not asked to attend. Wheeler declined to attend a separate hearing scheduled for later on Wednesday, which was subsequently canceled.
The net neutrality proposal is almost certain to pass the FCC on a party-line vote, and almost as certain to be challenged in court by one of the major broadband providers. The FCC鈥檚 2010 Open Internet Order, which imposed similar restrictions on the way broadband providers could treat Internet traffic but didn鈥檛 reclassify them as common carriers, was successfully challenged by Verizon. The D.C. Circuit Court ruled in January 2014 that the FCC didn鈥檛 have the authority to enforce its Internet rules.
That ruling prompted the FCC鈥檚 current approach, which expands government authority over broadband providers so that the Commission can enforce net neutrality principles. 鈥淭he proposal ... assure[s] there are basic ground rules and a referee on the field to enforce them,鈥� Wheeler at the University of Colorado Boulder earlier this month. 鈥淚f an action [by a broadband provider] hurts consumers, competition, or innovation, the FCC will have the authority to throw the flag.鈥�
