Clyburn Says Playing Defense 'Exhausting but Exhilirating,' Cites Broad Net Neutrality Strategy
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said playing defense in the minority at the agency is a "very interesting" experience. "Playing the entire field has been a little exhausting but exhilarating at the same time,” she said in an interview on C-SPAN's…
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The Communicators set to air Saturday and Monday. There have been "more than a couple" 2-1 votes, with her dissenting, but she said she still cares about the same things, including putting "consumers first." Asked if she was rallying net neutrality advocates to try to change Republican colleagues' plans to roll back Title II broadband regulation, put pressure on Congress, or build a record in court, Clyburn said, "All of the above." Without Communications Act Title II broadband classification, "What backstop authority do we have?" she asked, citing USF, broadband deployment barriers and pole attachments as areas that would suffer without Title II. “Right now we have certainty that we will be the referee on the field enabling and answering the calls of people who say ‘I want choice, I want connectivity.’'' she said. "All of these things are made possible with connectivity, and if we do not have all of the tools in our regulatory belt to be able to say that we have authority to enable all of these wonderful opportunities, then who does and how does it get done?" She also addressed inmate calling service charges, AT&T/Time Warner, broadband infrastructure pre-emption and other subjects.