Statement of FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai

I've taken the liberty of posting Commissioner Pai's statement in its entirety.  It can also be found here on the FCC website.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE		CONTACT:
February 6, 2015		Matthew Berry (202) 418-2005
		Email: [email protected]
	STATEMENT OF FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI
	ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PLAN TO REGULATE THE INTERNET

 

            Last night, Chairman Wheeler provided his fellow Commissioners with President Obama’s 332-page plan to regulate the Internet. I am disappointed that the plan will not be released publicly. The FCC should be as open and transparent as the Internet itself and post the entire document on its website.

            Instead, it looks like the FCC will have to pass the President’s plan before the American people will be able to find out what’s really in it.

            In the coming days, I look forward to continuing to study the plan in detail. Based on my initial examination, however, several points are apparent.

            First, President Obama’s plan marks a monumental shift toward government control of the Internet. It gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the Internet works.  It’s an overreach that will let a Washington bureaucracy, and not the American people, decide the future of the online world. 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. 

            Second, President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet will increase consumers’ monthly broadband bills. The plan explicitly opens the door to billions of dollars in new taxes on broadband.  Indeed, states have already begun discussions on how they will spend the extra money. These new taxes will mean higher prices for consumers and more hidden fees that they have to pay.

            Third, President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet will mean slower broadband for American consumers. The plan contains a host of new regulations that will reduce investment in broadband networks. That means slower Internet speeds. It also means that many rural Americans will have to wait longer for access to quality broadband.

            Fourth, President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet will hurt competition and innovation and move us toward a broadband monopoly. The plan saddles small, independent businesses and entrepreneurs with heavy-handed regulations that will push them out of the market. As a result, Americans will have fewer broadband choices. This is no accident. Title II was designed to regulate a monopoly. If we impose that model on a vibrant broadband marketplace, a highly regulated monopoly is what we’ll get. We shouldn’t bring Ma Bell back to life in this dynamic, digital age.

            Fifth, President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet is an unlawful power grab. Courts have twice thrown out the FCC’s attempts at Internet regulation. There’s no reason to think that the third time will be the charm. Even a cursory look at the plan reveals glaring legal flaws that are sure to mire the agency in the muck of litigation for a long, long time.

            And sixth, the American people are being misled about what is in President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet. The rollout earlier in the week was obviously intended to downplay the plan’s massive intrusion into the Internet economy. Beginning next week, I look forward to sharing with the public key aspects of what this plan will actually do.

Obama is determined to leave his mark on America, and if there is anything that will transform it in the way he has in mind putting a regulatory choke hold on the internet is it. There is no doubt that the intent of this regulatory power grab is to provide future progressive elites with the tools needed to stifle dissent. The internet continues to be a thorn in the side of Obama and his allies in the legacy media. It should come as no surprise that the network news outlets haven't bothered to cover this development. 

The internet has been crucial in raising awareness of the craven dishonesty of the corporate news establishment, from Dan Rather and his fraudulent 60 Minutes piece on the Texas Air National Guard to Brian Williams and his false pretenses of bravery under fire in Iraq.  The likes of ABC, CBS, and NBC would like nothing better than to shut down the outlets that reveal network news for what it is:  a strutting flock of sycophants for Barack Obama and anything labeled progressive.

Comments

[Jackson DeBolt]

I just checked. As of 4:22PM EST, this is still not being reported on by the big networks. It provides a scary look at what is to come if this law/bill were to actually come to fruition.

[Tom Bowler]

It's not a law or a bill, but a change in FCC regulations. Congress is not involved. Still scary, though, if Congress and the courts stand by and let the changes go unchallenged.

[Jackson DeBolt]

What bothers me the most is that the Big Networks are not covering it. Is that because they don't want to or because they were told not to?