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FTC Head Urges "Caution" On Net Neutrality

Preserving Equal Playing Field Might Slow Innovation, Platt Warns

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 22, 2006

Net Neutrality • Internet Providers Ponder Bandwidth Limits For Heavy Users • Comcast, Cox Caught Blocking BitTorrent • Will Antitrust Law Save Net Neutrality? • Few Are Neutral in Net Neutrality Battles • Net Neutrality Supporters Testify • Comcast Blocks Public From FCC Hearing • Congress Gets Net Neutrality Legislation • Time Warner To Test Metered Pricing For Broadband • House Committee To Probe FCC • FCC To Investigate Comcast For Blocking Net Traffic • Verizon Wireless Opens Network to All Devices, Software • Comcast Sued Over Internet Blocking • Verizon Overrides Internet Searches With Its Own Results • Comcast Blocks Subscribers From Some Services • Verizon's Abortion Block Raises Net Neutrality Concerns • FTC Nixes Net Neutrality • Wireless Spectrum May Hold Key To Net Neutrality • Telcos Lift Block On FreeConference.Com • FCC Takes Another Look at Net Neutrality • AT&T Blocks Calls To Competing Conference Call Service • Study: Ending Net Neutrality Would Hurt Consumers • FCC, FTC Challenged To Protect Net Neutrality • Net Neutrality Back on Congress' Agenda • Net Neutrality Opponents Step Up PR Blitz • AT&T Trumpets New TV Service • Verizon Joins BellSouth in Retreat From Unexplained New DSL Fee • FCC Nudges BellSouth Into Giving Up New DSL Fees • FTC Head Urges "Caution" On Net Neutrality • Net Neutrality May Derail Telecom Bill • Google: No Net Neutrality Means Antitrust Fight • Senate Prepares for Net Neutrality Showdown • Congress Moves Quickly To Satisfy Telecoms' Net Neutrality, Cable Entry Demands • Net Neutrality Gets Its Day In Congress • Net Neutrality Wins Committee Vote In Congress • Net Neutrality Attracts Surprising Allies • Congress Wrestles with Net Neutrality

The Federal Trade Commission chair says a "market-based approach" would work best to ensure that the Internet remains equally accessible to all users, the so-called "net neutrality" issue.

No regulation preserving equal access to Internet content should be enacted without extensive study of its effects and how it might benefit or harm consumers, said FTC chair Deborah Platt in an address to the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF), a conservative-leaning policy think tank

"Broad regulatory mandates that employ a 'one size fits all' philosophy, without regard to specific facts, always have unintended consequences, some of which may be harmful and some of which may not be known until far into the future, " she said.

Majoras also reiterated the administration's position on the net neutrality issue -- that regulation can harm innovation and consumer choice.

Majoras said that when the FTC is called to rule on proposed legislation, "[W]e virtually always assert the principle that, absent clear evidence of market failure or consumer harm, policymakers should not enact blanket prohibitions of particular forms of business conduct or business models or place requirements on how business is conducted."

PFF describes itself as a "market-oriented think tank." Its donors include AT&T, Cisco Systems, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), all of which oppose net neutrality regulations, presumably preferring instead to impose multiple tiers of Internet service.

PFF also has backing from supporters of net neutrality, including tech titans such as Microsoft, eBay, and Google.

PFF's "distinguished fellow" Orson Swindle is a former FTC commissioner, and has frequently spoken on the need to improve online security and reduce vulnerabilities for data fraud and identity theft.

Net neutrality has become a flashpoint for think tanks, consumer groups, tech advocates, bloggers, and advocacy groups, with the public furor over the issue nearly scuttling massive new telecom legislation currently awaiting passage in the Senate.

Consumer groups and net neutrality supporters believe laws need to be passed to ensure telecom and cable companies will not favor their own Web content over others, and that low-income Internet users will not be left behind in the push for high-end broadband services to affluent users.

Net neutrality doesn't just affect access to content on the Web itself. The efforts of cities and municipalities to build their own publicly-funded, low-cost wireless Internet networks have been challenged by the telecom and cable industries, who claim the new competition is, well, harming competition.

Writing for The Nation, Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy criticized the telecom legislation for treating Americans as passive consumers of Internet content, rather than participants in digital democracy.

"Verizon, Comcast and the others are terrified of the Internet as we know it today, " he said. "Net neutrality rules would jeopardize their far-reaching plans to transform our digital communications system."

Without net neutrality, Chester said, "the phone/cable plan seeks to impose what is called a 'policy-based' broadband system that creates 'rules' of service for every user and online content provider. How much one can afford to spend would determine the range and quality of digital media access."

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