The opposition has been so broad, in fact, that Wheeler tinkered with his initial proposal in hopes of easing the outcry and securing support for his response to court rulings that have required the FCC to revisit issues of Internet speed and access. He got that support Thursday from Democratic commissioners Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel.
But both Clynburn and Rosenworcel expressed reservation about Wheeler's approach. And rightly so.
The official line from the FCC, in anticipation of the Thursday vote, was that Wheeler's revisions "clearly reflects public input the commission has received" and that Wheeler is now "explicit that the goal is to find the best approach to ensure the Internet remains open and prevent any practices that threaten it."
Wheeler had felt the heat. His revised approach -- which the commission has now approved for consideration -- contains some of the language of critics, and expresses an openness to debate about what a growing consensus among responsible members of Congress and advocacy groups says is the right response to the issue: the reclassification of Internet providers as "telecommunications services."
But Wheeler never moved as far as the official pronouncements suggests. Indeed, according to The Wall Street Journal, despite the talk of "tweaks" to the initial plan, the chairman "is sticking to the same basic approach."
An analysis from Matt Wood, a public interest lawyer who formerly worked with the Media Access Project and now works with Free Press, concludes that the revisions proposed by Wheeler "fall far short." Indeed, argues Wood, "Unless the chairman reverses his fundamentally failed approach, we won't have real net neutrality -- and we will have rampant discrimination online."
Wheeler has not reversed course.
Now, with the commission vote to open debate on how to maintain net neutrality, there will be many efforts to fuzz the margins of the debate. Some corporate interests will attack net neutrality itself, as will their congressional allies. Savvier players will attempt to suggest that Wheeler is trying to "strike a balance." But a balance with Internet "fast lanes" and "slow lanes" is tipped against citizens and consumers. And that's the problem with Wheeler's revision -- and, as such, with the core plan that the commission will consider. For all the talk of progress, Michael Weinberg, vice president of the advocacy group Public Knowledge, says he and his group remain "concerned that the FCC is considering some kind of paid prioritization."
"Paid prioritization" would recreate the Internet as a place where, potentially, there would be superhighway service for big-ticket customers and dirt roads for small businesses, creative artists and citizen groups. In a political context, it has the potential to narrow access to ideas and reduce the range of debate. As the American Civil Liberties Union warns:
"Profits and corporate disfavor of controversial viewpoints or competing services could change both what you can see on the Internet and the quality of your connection. And the need to monitor what you do online in order to play favorites means even more consumer privacy invasions piled on top of the NSA's prying eyes."
That's the fundamental fear of activists, who have contacted the FCC urging rejection of Wheeler's flawed initiative. Ironically, citizens who phoned the agency this week to express support for a free and open Internet were urged, because of the overwhelming volume of calls, to use the Internet to communicate their objections. Of course, a top objection is that, if Wheeler gets the commission to undermine net neutrality, the effectiveness of the Internet as a tool for challenging corporate abuses and bad policies will be undermined.
To keep the flow of communications going to the FCC, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a net neutrality advocate, created a special form on his Senate website for citizens to use. On Tuesday, his office delivered nearly 19,000 new comments to the agency. They were added to hundreds of thousands of communications to the commission from net neutrality supporters.
Wheeler misread things when he imagined that Americans are interested in compromising when it comes to net neutrality -- that, beyond the corridors of corporate and political power, there is a constituency for surrendering a little bit of Internet freedom here, a little bit of Internet openness there. There's no popular enthusiasm for creating a pay-to-play Internet. Americans in growing numbers recognize that once net neutrality is undermined, the Internet will no longer be free and open.
The simple, right and necessary response to the whole question of how to maintain net neutrality is to reclassify broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service that can be regulated in the public interest. Indeed, as media reformers note, "The FCC can't prevent online discrimination and blocking unless it reclassifies broadband providers as common carriers."
While Wheeler and his aides say they will accept some discussion of reclassification, Broadcasting & Cable magazine reports that the chairman sees the use of existing rules -- rather than reclassification -- as the "effective path forward."
That is a mistake.
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