{"id":15893,"date":"2014-01-15T16:49:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T21:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.publicknowledge.org\/uncategorized\/what-does-network-neutrality-look-like-today\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T23:20:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T23:20:29","slug":"what-does-network-neutrality-look-like-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/what-does-network-neutrality-look-like-today\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Network Neutrality Look Like Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the conventional wisdom turns out to be correct. As we observed after the oral argument in September<\/a>, the Court seemed likely to approve the FCC\u2019s general assertion of authority over broadband providers under one provision of the Communications Act<\/a>, while reversing the no blocking and non-discrimination rules \u2013 the actual important part of Network Neutrality \u2013 as contradicting other statutory language. As it turned out, that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n

The result creates a bizarre set of contradictions within the Court\u2019s decision<\/a>. On the one hand, the majority of the court finds that the FCC properly found that the current openness of the Internet is critically important to protecting subscribers and fostering innovation (pages 33-44). On the other hand, the Court found that because the FCC insists on classifying all broadband service as a Title I \u201cInformation Service\u201d rather than as a Title II \u201cTelecommunications Service,\u201d the Commission is powerless to act on these findings (pages 45-62). (For those unclear on the distinction between Title I Information Service and title II Telecommunications Service, you can see this refresher here<\/a>.) The FCC now has confirmed \u201caffirmative authority to enact measures encouraging the deployment of broadband infrastructure\u201d and \u201cto promulgate rules governing broadband providers\u2019 treatment of Internet traffic,\u201d provided the FCC allows broadband providers to offer preferential treatment to some and block others.<\/p>\n

To illustrate with some examples, the FCC could, conceivably, decide that AT&T\u2019s current \u201csponsored data program\u201d discourages broadband use, hampers innovation or otherwise
\nfrustrates the goals of ensuring rapid deployment of \u201cadvanced telecommunications capabilities to all Americans,\u201d and could order AT&T to stop or modify the program accordingly. But the FCC cannot set a rule in advance that would prevent AT&T from experimenting with such deals. The FCC can require Verizon to negotiate peering with Cogent<\/a> or could require broadband providers to offer interconnection to things like Netflix\u2019s
\ncontent delivery network<\/a> under rules similar to the data roaming rules the D.C. Circuit approved last summer<\/a>, but it cannot require that Verizon complete a call from Magic Jack to a Digital Voice subscriber.<\/p>\n

How Did We Get To This Result That Makes No Sense?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the Court makes clear, and as Public Knowledge has consistently warned, this confusing and contradictory result \u2013 at once overly broad and severely limited \u2013 is a contradiction of the
\nFCC\u2019s own making. As the Court recounts in painstaking detail, the FCC used to sensibly treat the business of moving bits as a Title II telecommunications service (pages 7-10). Then the FCC changed its mind and classified broadband access as a Title I \u201cInformation Service.\u201d \u201cDespite calls to revisit these classification orders,\u201d observed the Court, \u201cthe Commission has yet to overrule them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, the FCC has a choice (and still does) whether to put broadband in the Title I \u201cInformation Services\u201d box or the Title II \u201cPhone Services\/Telecommunications\u201d box. Once you put something in the \u201cInformation Service\u201d box, you cannot treat it as if it were in the \u201cPhone Services\/Telecommunications\u201d box. The FCC can always decide which <\/em><\/strong>box to use, and can always change its mind about whether something belongs in the Title I box or the Title II box. But it can\u2019t pretend something in the Title I box is in the Title II box.<\/p>\n

While I don\u2019t necessarily agree that this is the right way (or even the logical way) to read the statute, it does have a certain consistency of appeal. \u201cFCC,\u201d the Court says, \u201cstop trying to be so clever and do your job. Either broadband providers are like cable operators, picking and choosing what content and what applications to offer users in whatever bundles or under whatever conditions they please; or they are like phone systems that offer to complete a phone call to anyone at the other end of the ten-digit phone number. But they can\u2019t be both at the same time. Make your choice and live with the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Net Neutrality As It Exists Right Now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the state of the world at the end of the day yesterday? The FCC\u2019s rules requiring broadband providers to disclose their network management practices remain intact and in force. Providers are free to strike whatever deals they want or block whoever they want \u2013 a situation the Court found does indeed endanger the \u201cvirtuous cycle of innovation\u201d that has powered the Internet until now. Unless the FCC reclassifies broadband access as Title II telecommunications services, however, the FCC cannot really do anything about it directly.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t make the FCC entirely helpless. But it does mean that the best the FCC can hope for, absent reclassifying broadband as Title II, is possibly a sort of \u201cNet Neutrality-lite\u201d that looks remarkably like what we had in 2008 \u2014 a complaint process based on Open Internet principles. As folks may recall, no one particularly liked that because it created all sorts of uncertainty as to what conduct would or wouldn\u2019t be allowed and how far the FCC\u2019s authority would reach. Every new business model becomes the possible subject of a complaint, and every complaint becomes a crap shoot because the FCC cannot actually impose a rule.<\/p>\n

But apparently, \u201ccertainty\u201d is for wussies in Telecom-ville. Welcome to the dynamic crazy town of Information Services Land! Who knows what anyone will do, who it might hurt, or what the FCC might do in response? Let the wackiness ensue and the good times roll.<\/p>\n

Unless, as the Court suggests, the FCC would like to revisit its classification decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the conventional wisdom turns
\nout to be correct. As we observed
\nafter the oral argument in September<\/a>, the Court seemed likely to approve
\nthe FCC\u2019s general assertion of authority over broadband providers under one provision of the
\nCommunications Act<\/a>, while reversing the no blocking and non-discrimination
\nrules \u2013 the actual important part of Network Neutrality \u2013 as contradicting
\nother statutory language. As it turned out, that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Does Network Neutrality Look Like Today? - Public Knowledge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. We work to shape policy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/publicknowledge.org\/what-does-network-neutrality-look-like-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Does Network Neutrality Look Like Today?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Public Knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. 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