In case Canadians thought only Canadian politicians couldn’t resist the urge to interfere with the deliberations of independent regulators, US President Barack Obama waded into the FCC’s open internet proceeding today with a statement on Net Neutrality. Importantly, the statement recognizes that his perspective is not the final word:
The FCC is an independent agency, and ultimately this decision is theirs alone. I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online.
The issue, of course, is more complex than that laid out in the President’s statement.
The Chair of the FCC, Tom Wheeler replied, thanking the President for his input and made it clear that it is just one submission of thousands received, with more to come:
I am grateful for the input of the President and look forward to continuing to receive input from all stakeholders, including the public, members of Congress of both parties, including the leadership of the Senate and House committees, and my fellow commissioners. Ten years have passed since the Commission started down the road towards enforceable Open Internet rules. We must take the time to get the job done correctly, once and for all, in order to successfully protect consumers and innovators online.
As Chairman Wheeler observed, there are different routes that can be followed and each presents challenges in creating an enforceable framework, able to withstand legal challenges: “The more deeply we examined the issues around the various legal options, the more it has become plain that there is
more work to do.”
Canadians should keep in mind that on this file, the CRTC is more than 5 years ahead of the United States. In October 2009, Canada’s regulator issued its rules on internet traffic management practices, ITMPs, in Regulatory Policy 2009-657.
The next day, more than 5 years ago, I observed: “Later today, there will be an announcement from the FCC that will be much heralded by many who confuse political rhetoric for action. It will be a long process before the US has any kind of net neutrality regulation, let alone the proposed framework that will be articulated today by the FCC.”
A long process. Hah!
Five years later, the US is still fighting over how it will regulate the internet.
Is it actually clear that the FCC will be able to regulate it? Indeed, is it clear that the internet should be regulated?