Title II common carriage is a highly deregulatory...
Title II common carriage is a highly deregulatory and flexible framework, designed to preserve core nondiscrimination principles even in competitive telecom markets, Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood told aides to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn Wednesday, said an ex parte filing…
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(http://bit.ly/1mwluwk) posted in docket 14-28 Monday. Prior commissions “were wrong” in categorizing broadband as an information service, and the circumstances that led to the designation have since changed, Wood said at the meetings. Common Carrier status also had no negative impact on broadband deployment, “and Section 706 cannot serve as a basis for enforceable protections against broadband providers’ blocking, discrimination, or unreasonable terminating access fees,” Wood told the aides, according to the filing. Title II should be a last resort if Section 706 rules prove not viable or inadequate, said Tekedra Mawakana, Yahoo global head of public policy, and Margaret Nagle, Yahoo head of U.S. government affairs, in a meeting July 16 with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, and at a separate meeting the same day with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler. Preserving a free and open Internet is particularly important as more users access online content on smartphones or tablets, Yahoo said at the meetings. Attorneys Andrew Guhr and Pantelis Michalopoulos, both of Steptoe & Johnson, also participated in the meeting with Wheeler’s aides. Guhr participated in the meeting with Rosenworcel’s aide.