Net Neutrality Legislation to Get Close Look in Next Congress
Federal net neutrality legislation appears likely, but only if the courts overrule the FCC’s August Comcast- BitTorrent decision and say the commission does not have the legal authority to enforce its broadband principles, speakers said Thursday at the University of Nebraska’s space and telecommunications law and policy conference. They disagreed on whether Congress should approve legislation regardless of whether the Comcast case passes legal scrutiny.
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James Cicconi, senior executive vice president at AT&T, said any decision by the courts in the Comcast case will be closely watched. Comcast already appealed the order to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “If [judges] said that you should have gone through a rulemaking, then I think the FCC can go through a rulemaking,” Ciconni said. “If [the court] says you don’t have authority I think Congress will act. They will, at minimum, give the FCC authority to enforce its broadband principles.”
Other speakers at the conference agreed that Congress would be quick to shore up the FCC’s legal authority if that authority is rejected by the courts. They disagreed on whether Congress should pass legislation regardless of what happens in the Comcast appeal.
“We definitely feel that legislation is necessary,” said Frannie Wellings, aide to Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., a senior member of the Commerce Committee. “We want to make sure that there is nondiscrimination protection and that the FCC can clearly act and act quickly, without having to deal with litigation.” Wellings said the election of Barack Obama as president will make legislation more likely next year.
Markham Erickson, executive director of the Open Internet Coalition, said his group supports legislation during the next Congress: “Legislation is important to help provide the FCC with certainty over its jurisdictional prerogatives.” Erickson said consumers are suspicious of network operators. “The telephone and cable companies say ’trust them,'” he said. “We will trust but verify.”
Ciconni questioned whether net neutrality is likely to be a priority next year. “I can’t imagine with all the challenges that the Congress is facing that they would view this as a high priority or something that requires urgent action, especially in the face of evidence that the FCC’s broadband principles are adequate and that they're very, very willing to enforce them,” he said in an interview.
The net neutrality issue is “less controversial than it used to be,” said Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott during an earlier panel. Obama’s stance on the issue is clear, leading Scott to believe Congress or the FCC “will come to a place of agreement within a year.” The rules should apply to wireless too, Scott said. “We need to have clear uniform standards across all technologies.”
Congress has a lot on its plate next year, but the FCC may turn its Internet principles into rules and add a fifth “non-discriminatory” principle, said former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley. Legislating on net neutrality may not result in more clarity, Wiley said, because the FCC will still have to apply the rules in individual situations. - Howard Buskirk, Adam Bender