FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Scott Cleland
January 12, 2010
703-217-2407
NetCompetition.org Submits Comments on FCC Open Internet NPRM
“Preserving, not reversing, competition policy, best preserves the open Internet.”
WASHINGTON – NetCompetition.org Chairman Scott Cleland submitted comments to the FCC’s proposed Open Internet NPRM.
In summarizing the overall thrust of his comments to the FCC, NetCompetition.org Chairman Scott Cleland said:
· “Preserving, not reversing, longstanding bipartisan competition policy is the single best way to preserve the current open Internet.”
More specifically, Cleland made three distinct policy points in his comments to the FCC:
1. “Far from preserving an open Internet, the FCC’s proposed regulations would be a big change in U.S. Internet policy, changes that are unauthorized by Congress, and changes that would likely transform the current user-centric, privately-operated Internet into a more FCC-centric, government-run Internet.”
2. “Like the FCC’s National Broadband Plan task force identified seven “critical gaps” to address in order to best promote universal broadband, NetCompetition.org has identified six “critical gaps” in the Open Internet NPRM that the FCC should resolve before proceeding with any formal open Internet order.”
3. “Since the U.S. has been the world leader over the last two decades in fostering an open Internet free of government interference and micromanagement, the FCC’s current proposal to preemptively regulate the Internet for the first time risks triggering a “domino effect” of new Internet regulation around the world, as other countries mimic the thin new U.S. justification for regulation and implement whatever preemptive Internet controls they desire by claiming a new concern about a new potential problem that they alone foresee.”
The link to NetCompetition.org’s FCC comments is here:
· http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020356863
NETCompetition.org is a pro-competition e-forum representing broadband interests. See www.netcompetition.org.
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