Paid Prioritization Ban Should Give Way to Case-by-Case Review, TechFreedom Says
The FCC net neutrality order ban on paid prioritization is overly restrictive, preventing arrangements that could benefit consumers, said a TechFreedom paper by Policy Counsel Tom Struble. "No exceptions are made for paid prioritization, and other forms of differential traffic…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
management -- e.g., unpaid or user-directed prioritization -- are subject to strict scrutiny from the FCC," said a news release Friday on the paper. “The FCC’s blanket ban on paid prioritization created a major obstacle to innovation, and the agency failed to provide any real proof of harm as justification,” said Struble. “It’s not too late for the Commission to fix this. Adopting the transparency requirement proposed by the Broadband Internet and Technical Advisory Group would help ensure that consumers are receiving the service they pay for while providing the FCC with the information it needs to address concerns on a case-by-case basis. This approach would protect consumers without needlessly hamstringing ISPs that wish to experiment with new approaches to network management.” Struble was to discuss the paper Saturday at a conference where Commissioner Mike O'Rielly on Friday bemoaned the lack of FCC cost-benefit analyses (see 1609300069).