The net neutrality order is expected to result in a significant expansion of the powers of the FCC Enforcement Bureau, based on the text released Thursday, net neutrality critics said. The order emphasizes the importance of case-by-case enforcement and empowers the bureau to issue “advisory opinions” similar to those issued by the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, if companies seek clarification of the rules.
Explaining why the net neutrality order released publicly Thursday is 400 pages, a senior FCC official told reporters that the agency wanted to deal with points raised by critics and commenters because it fully expects the order to be challenged in court.
AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens Wednesday called on the FCC to release its Feb. 26 net neutrality order reclassifying broadband as a common carrier service. Reclassifying broadband under Title II of the Communications Act will “stymie” investment and innovation, he warned. The FCC hopes to release the order Thursday, an agency official said.
Wiley Rein hires David Frolio, ex-GSM Association, as consulting counsel, Communications Practice ... Comcast promotes to also be executive vice presidents General Counsel and Secretary Arthur Block, Chief Communications Officer D’Arcy Rudnay and Chief Accounting Officer and Controller Lawrence Salva ... Shutterstock hires Craig Felenstein, ex-Discovery Communications, as senior vice president-investor relations Globecomm names Jason Juranek, ex-Harris CapRock, chief financial officer ... Inrix hires Steve Banfield, ex-Rightside, as chief marketing officer ... Dish Network hires Scott Skurnick, ex-Sears Holdings, to lead digital marketing as vice president-digital acquisition ... Globecast hires Rick Horrow, Horrow Sports Ventures, as "key industry advisor on a consultancy basis."
Consumer groups are optimistic the FCC is moving toward adding new hurdles before providers can retire copper phone lines, attorneys representing the groups told us. Some critics of the proposed change, including former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell and Free State Foundation President Randolph May, also said changes to Section 214 discontinuation rules may be coming, citing the commission’s controversial decisions on net neutrality (see 1502260043) and municipal broadband (see 1502260030). Those orders “do not bode well for a forward-thinking modernization approach to the IP transition,” McDowell told us Friday, as Monday’s deadline for reply comments in the IP transition rulemaking approached (see 1411210037). The rulemaking involves an array of issues, including setting requirements on backup battery power.
FCC staffers, in particular in the Enforcement Bureau, are expected to play a big role in determining what business practices are permissible under the commission’s new net neutrality rules. Provisions in the rules that leave decisions to staffers who otherwise don’t play a policy role at the commission are being questioned by net neutrality opponents.
Responding to attacks from net neutrality Communications Act Title II opponents, Netflix said Chief Financial Officer David Wells’ comments that the company would have preferred broadband service not be declassified were being mischaracterized. Title II opponents, including AT&T, the Free State Foundation and the Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology, had zeroed in on Wells’ statement: “Were we pleased that it pushed to Title II, probably not, right? I mean, we were hoping that there might be a non-regulated solution to it.” Wells made the comment Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, according to a recording of the speech. Wells, according to the recording and a transcript posted on Netflix’s blog Thursday, also said he was pleased with the net neutrality order and said why he thought ISPs should be treated as utilities.
As the smoke clears from an initial flurry of reaction, privacy advocates and some lawmakers applauded President Barack Obama's push to protect privacy, with the release of a draft of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR) last week, (see 1502270052), calling the first draft a step in the right direction. Consumer privacy advocates, industry -- with the exception of Microsoft -- and Democratic and Republican lawmakers initially criticized the draft. Privacy groups said in a letter that they were shown a rough draft of the bill a week before its public release and asked several changes be made, some of which were implemented, including changes to "maintain longstanding privacy protections under the Communications Act.” Privacy groups said that if other changes are adopted, the bill could protect consumers. Industry groups, however, maintain the draft is a step backward, with many expressing concerns about innovation, and some saying the bill distracts from critical data security legislation that's needed.
ISPs and other industry players won’t have certainty for many months, possibly several years, on whether the FCC’s order imposing new net neutrality rules will survive a court challenge, FCC and industry officials tell us. While Verizon and MetroPCS led the fight in the courts against the 2010 rules, industry officials predict this time the major trade associations may end up filing the key challenges, especially since Comcast and AT&T both have major transactions pending before the FCC.
Republican FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly continued their attack against net neutrality rules approved by the FCC Thursday (see 1502260043), speaking at a Friday event hosted by TechFreedom. Pai said the order was all about politics and not about protecting the Internet. “The issue has been largely fact free for the better part of a decade,” he said.