Republican net neutrality proposal falls short, critics say
A Republican net neutrality proposal in the U.S. Congress would not fully protect broadband customers because it would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from enacting new rules against selectively blocking or throttling traffic, critics said Wednesday.
The Republican draft legislation would kill the FCCs ability to act on schemes that prioritize some traffic over others, witnesses told a congressional committee.
The proposal would strip the countys expert communications agency of authority to protect consumers on the communications platform of the 21st century, said Jessica Gonzalez, executive vice president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
It effectively freezes the FCC in time, only allowing it to confront a handful of harmful practices that we have contemplated based on market conditions and technology that exists today, she said.
The bill would also exempt certain specialized services, such as smart grid services and others that are separate from the public Internet, from the prohibitions on paid traffic prioritization. That would leave a giant loophole that could allow broadband providers to prioritize their own Web content, Gonzalez said, a hearing before the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committees communications subcommittee.
The draft bill also allows broadband providers to engage in reasonable network management but doesnt define that term, critics said.
The proposals prohibition on broadband providers selectively blocking or throttling Web content, and its general ban on paid prioritization deals, are encouraging, said Chad Dickerson, CEO of online marketplace Etsy. Dickerson also applauded the proposal for applying the same rules to mobile broadband as it does to wired broadband.
But Etsy is concerned that the proposal, with an exemption for specialized services, does not ban all types of discrimination online, leaving loopholes that could be easily exploited, he said.
Instead of the draft bill, Congress should let the FCC move ahead with its plan to pass net neutrality rules, Gonzalez said.
The FCC, likely to reclassify broadband as a regulated public utility at its Feb. 26 meeting, would provide broadband providers and customers with certainty moving forward, she said.
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Republican net neutrality proposal falls short, critics say