I heard FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell speak for the first time this morning on Net Neutrality and came away very impressed. He is a principled, articulate and well versed on the issues. The FCC is lucky to have him.
He started with being very upfront about his philosophy and approach: "It's all about freedom. I trust free markets and free people... government should get out of the way." In acknowledging that there can be instances of market failure, he said there should be "narrowly-tailored remedies with a clear sunset."
Specifically on net neutrality, the Commissioner had a very funny description of the issue -- as like a "Rorshach ink blot test" -- where everyone sees in the issue what they want to see.
He definitely grasped the core points of both sides of the debate. He also described the debate as a very healthy one that should be happening. He expressed a lot of confidence that "consumer demand is a terrific correction device" and that any company that tried to fight consumer demand would not succeed.
In short, he summarized his Net Neutrality approach as "No harm. No foul. Remain vigilant."
Could not have said it better myself.
