Advocates and foes of network neutrality rules praised the proces...
Advocates and foes of network neutrality rules praised the process set up by the FCC in its rulemaking commenced Thursday, in a panel late Wednesday hosted by the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Congressional Internet Caucus. But the telco…
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and cable representatives said they still worry rules could chill broadband network investment. The cable industry is “very encouraged” by the open and data-drive nature of the process established by Chairman Julius Genachowski, said Howard Symons, a cable attorney with Mintz Levin. Cooperation and negotiation between each side of the debate will be critical to making good rules, agreed Amazon.com Public Policy Vice President Paul Misener. “Why not take a real hard look at this and do it right?” However, AT&T Vice President Hank Hultquist said he fears proposed rules are too vague on what operators are allowed to do. For example, it’s unclear whether proposed rules allow AT&T to provide quality of service for customers, or provide “limited-purpose devices” like Amazon’s Kindle, he said. AT&T is worried that the FCC seeks to abandon the Telecom Act Section 202 standard allowing “reasonable” network management, replacing it with a blanket standard banning network discrimination, with some exceptions, he said. Neutrality advocates said exceptions to the FCC’s proposed nondiscrimination rule must be narrow and limited. Public Knowledge doesn’t want “exceptions that swallow the rule,” said staff attorney Jef Pearlman. The FCC mustn’t write criteria for reasonable net management so loosely that it acts as a “Trojan horse” for bad behavior, agreed Misener.