Hitting Home on Net Neutrality?

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced last week that the Commission was rolling back Obama era regulations on Net Neutrality, which sought to expand the reach of the 1934 Federal Communications Act to the Internet towards an end of making the it a regulated media.  Net Neutrality critics, like Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), liken it as Obamacare for the Internet which promise to lower price and improve delivery but do the opposite and make Uncle Sam the undisputed middle man.

Proponents of Net Neutrality, which were protesting a repeal in May at FCC Headquarters moved their protests to Chairman Pai's suburban Virginia home and used signs which proclaimed "Dad murdered democracy in cold blood."

Such an in-your-face political protest calls to mind the 2012 stunt in which the SEIU used 14 buses to move 500 protesters on a bank executive's front lawn in suburban Maryland to denounce bank foreclosures.  This tactic seems straight out of Saul Alinky's Rules for Radicals (1971) playbook.

The Net Neutrality home invasion comes at the same time that Keith Olbermann is stepping down from giving the GQ daily podcasts for "The Resistance".

It is worth contemplating if this mark a divergence in tactics amongst Leftists, or if more entrenched progressives are getting out of activism while the getting is good.

Nonetheless, it is reprehensible to harass public officials living in private residences about policy disputes. Mob mentality following people home discourages civic minded civilians from serving a stint in office and needlessly involves innocent family members.

Net Neutrality may have legitimate public policy merits, but the fascistic manner which these progressive activists pursued their policy wins neither hearts nor minds. 

Ajit Pai on Federal Weed Whacking

Ajit Pai, who is poised to be named Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission by President Trump, will take a more free market approach to the FCC than his predecssor Tom Wheeler. 


This would involve whacking away at the unauthorized expansion of FCC regulatory authority, such as regulating the Internet through the guise of Net Neutrality.  Such a move, however, will be controversial, especially with those who favor the bureaucratic nanny state.

John Thune on the Obamanet

"Chairman Wheeler and the FCC are not above Congress"

 
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler refused to testify before Congress before promulgating and voting on his 332 (now 317) page  regulation of the internet.  The Federal Communication Commission is a creation of Congress so it is curious that the Commission will not share its secret plan to apply most aspects of Title II to internet service providers under the guise of net neutrality. So legislators whose rightful responsibility includes governing the people neither get a heads up on a monumental shift in the internet much less explore the unintended consequences of the FCC move.

 But the FCC is supposed to be an independent regulatory agency.  Yet after President Barack Obama issued his "modest proposal" on net neutrality in November, FCC Chairman Wheeler changed his tune to craft his policy.  No doubt, the Democrat majority on the Committee will vote for a proposal which will mirror President Obama's dictat.

Michael Powell on FCC Overreach

On Free Speech in a Globalized World

 Flemming Rose is the editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, who created  controversy in 2005 by publishing cartoons of the prophet Mohammed which caused unrest worldwide amongst some offended Islamists.


 


Rose wrote a book recounting some of his concerns for free speech in Tyranny of Silence (2014) and summarized his thoughts about free speech in a globalized world during the 2014 Oslo Freedom Forum   Pamela Geller, the publisher of Atlas Shrugged blog, is revisiting this subject by sponsoring a "Draw the Prophet"  contest with a $10,000 prize to be awarded in Garland, Texas on May 3rd, 2015.

Flemming Rose's fear of the tyranny of silence may be heightened in America by the FCC's usurpation of the internet through Title II regulations said to address net neutrality issues, but may end up with a politically correct and highly regulated product which could be called "Obamanet".    

FCC Commissioner Scathes Net Neutrality Politics

Ajit Pai, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has become outspoken in his objections to the political imposition of Net Neutrality by what is supposed to be an independent Federal commission.

Commissioner Pai noted that: “It’s no wonder that net neutrality proponents are already bragging that it will turn the FCC into the “Department of the Internet. For that reason, if you like dealing with the IRS, you are going to love the President’s plan." 

Many progressives have rallied around the concept of Net Neutrality thinking that it is hurting corporations and encouraging competition.  What Commissioner Pai points out is that applying Title II regulation to the internet, which was designed for railroads and Ma Bell, will stifle competition and favor behemoth businesses because of the regulatory burdens.

Congressional critics such as Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) have likened Net Neutrality as being Obamacare for the Internet, regulations sold to lower prices and improve delivery but which in reality do the opposite while making Uncle Sam the undisputed middle man.

Another alarming feature of such broad regulation by the FCC is the relative obscurity in which the rules are being cobbled together.  President Obama pressured the FCC in November 2014 about Net Neutrality.  Chairman Tom Wheeler, who had been a big Obama fundraiser, is complying but promises to make some changes in Title II to make it better.  Oh, so a regulatory schemata which was drawn up in 1934 can be tweaked to apply to the internet age.  Right. FCC Commissioner Mike O'Reilly warned the public about the dangers of forbearance as applied to Title II Common Carriers. 

There is the larger issue, however, about whether Congress ceded its legislative mantle to the FCC to strictly regulate the internet. If we hold fast to living in a constitutional democratic Republic, shouldn't our elected representatives, not bureaucrats who are unaccountable to the people (or for that matter Men in Black) be crafting such momentous law?

UPDATE 01/23/2017  President Trump is poised to name Ajit Pai as Chairman of the FCC, replacing Democrat activist FCC Chair Tom Wheeler.  Pai has been a critic of the Commission's impetus to impose net neutrality and thereby expand the FCC's role into regulating the Internet. 

F.C.C. Commissioner Mike O'Reilly on Net Neutrality

While speaking at the non-partisan Free State Foundation's policy forum, Republican F.C.C. Commissioner Mike O'Reilly explained  some of the consequences of President Obama's "modest proposal" regarding Net Neutrality.

The internet tax would stem from moving internet services into Title II of the Federal Communications Act, which is not a smooth fit but gives the ostensibly independent regulatory agency power to implement Net Neutrality.  By applying common carrier rules, Internet Service Providers would have to pay into the Universal Services Fund (USF), which would add around $7/month to a bill.  The Heartland Institute shared a study from New York University which estimates that the imposition of Net Neutrality could cost consumers $55/month.   President Obama's comment intimated that cellular carriers should also come into Common Carrier status, so add the USF tax to an already heavy mobile telephony charges. O'Reilly believes that the F.C.C. would go on a spending spree with USF funds to expand the federal "E-Rate" program , which currently wires 

Idealistic internet activists were apoplectic about Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) observation that Net Neutrality was akin to Obamacare, insisting that the Tea Party maverick knew nothing about the subject. Senator Al Franken (D-MN)  even took to CNN to amplify this Net Neutrality no-nothing meme.   One wonders if these same digerati will insist that F.C.C. Commissioner O'Reilly is ignorant about Net Neutrality too, or if he holds a valid view which is opposed to their own insistence on inserting the government into the middle to regulate Common Carriers. 

Obamacare for the Internet?

President Barack Obama strongly weighed in on the net neutrality issue, petitioning the F.C.C. to consider the internet like a public utility for Americans.




While net neutrality is understood as internet companies adjusting internet speeds for certain users.  Mr. Obama's statement declares:

"I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online."

However, the ramifications of the Obama Administration's modest proposal goes beyond "internet fast lanes".  By applying the net neutrality to cellular companies, who offered tiers of service based on payments and who will govern a small number of bandwidth hogs.  Enforcing net neutrality could either raise rates for everyone or cause congestion reducing access for many mobile data users.

Of course, treating the internet like a public utility means lots of government bureaucrats and functionaries to apply and monitor these rules.  The problem is that instead of applying the principle of subsidiarity, where governing happens on a local or state level, inevitably this would be centralized in the District of Calamity (sic).

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) offered some quick and incisive reaction on Twitter to Mr. Obama's play on net neutrality.

Do we really want to cede control of the internet to the government, which spent $2 Billion on Healthcare.gov  and could not build an efficient and secure webpage?

Mr. Obama rightly notes that the F.C.C. is an independent agency so which unelected bureaucrats will govern us with little chance of redress?

Let us not forget about mission creep.  Currently, the F.C.C. is taking comments on the alleged offensiveness of the term "Redskins" to force owner Dan Snyder to change the name of the sports franchise from "The Washington Redskins".  This is being pursued by trying to pull the licenses of a couple of Red Zebra am sports radio stations that the Redskins owner controls.  This would set a precedent of government censoring content based on shifting political correctness, not well established community standards like George Carlin's "The Seven Words" that you can't say when broadcasting.

Furthermore, how much will the government stifle innovation on the internet as government bureaucrats figure things out and assess what is fair and neutral.

There has been wrangling for years over net neutrality. But it would be prudent to give a death panel to the notion of making the Internet into Obamacare via public utility regulation by the federal government.

Charlie Daniels on the FCC