FCC head may reject Obama's plan for net neutrality

[onenote]

114. Well here's a little something about me

Last edited Sat Nov 15, 2014, 04:46 PM - Edit history (1)

I've practiced before the FCC for over three decades. So when I suggested that you probably don't know much about the FCC beyond net neutrality, it wasn't intended as an ad hominem attack. It was a statement based on my experience, which is that most people don't follow what the FCC does very closely. For example, your statement that Obama should have removed Wheeler as Chair "over the Verizon case". I assume you are referring to the case that struck down the previous set of net neutrality rules. Removing Wheeler on account of the outcome of that case would have been an odd thing to do, since the briefing and oral argument in the case all occurred before Wheeler was confirmed as Chairman.

How do I know Wheeler is a Democrat. Well, for one thing he has consistently donated to Democrats; even as a trade association head, his personal donations were almost exclusively to Democrats. He progressive on social issues -- even back in the 1980s when he was president of the cable trade association (when cable was a new industry struggling to survive against hostile broadcasters, phone companies, and government policies) most of the departments in the organizations were headed by women -- something that was not common in the trade association world in those days. He was an early supporter of Obama's first campaign, raising between $200,000 and $500,000 in the 2008 cycle. He personally donated over $25,000 to Obama in the 2008 campaign and then, in the 2012 campaign, helped raise another half million or more. After the Court of Appeals struck down the net neutrality rules adopted by Wheeler's predecessor, a republican FCC chairman would have done nothing to reinstate any rules. While Wheeler's "fast lane" proposal if fraught with peril, it and the other rules he has proposed are better than what a republican FCC would give us (and if the next president is a republican, you can expect to kiss any form of net neutrality regulation goodbye.

The folks that Wheeler has appointed as his top staff have pretty decent Democratic chops as well. One was the President of Public Knowledge. One earned his reputation helping to lead the fight to break up the Bell phone monopoly while at DOJ; his wife is a major Friend of Hillary who got her start working for McGovern and People for the American Way. Two other senior staffers worked at various times in the past for a combined total of four Democratic FCC commissioners.

As I have pointed out, there is a pretty stark difference between Wheeler and his two Democratic colleagues and the two repubs. Just last month, the FCC issued a $10 million dollar fine against a company for a data security breach. The two repubs dissented. The three Democrats voted to restrict "duopoly" ownership of local broadcast stations. The two repubs dissented. The three Democrats voted to differentiate between large corporations and small companies in order to increase the opportunities available to small companies in the upcoming spectrum auction. The two repubs dissented. The list goes on.

The reality is that while there might be a form of net neutrality that would really benefit consumers, the battle now is over whether the big cable and telco broadband providers or the big "edge providers" -- Google, Netflix, etc. will make out like bandits. The consumer, as usual, will take the hit either way. Even the President, while endorsing a Title II approach made it clear that he wasn't endorsing retail price controls.

Finally, I know a lot of guys that think with their hearts not their head. Hell, I do it sometimes myself.