Speaking at “The Future of the Internet” Public Hearing, Minneapolis, Minnesota, FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn stated their support for the principles of Net Neutrality. Both also back the position that the FCC should reclassify broadband as the telecommunications service, establishing its authority to enforce rules. The comments come in the wake of the recent Verizon-Google agreement on Internet governance, which the commissioners criticized for being a closed room deal between industry giants.
Copps: “Our job now is to correct course by reclassifying broadband as the telecommunications service that it is (you know: actually call an apple an apple) and then craft rules and procedures that will protect consumers against discrimination, protect against a privatized Internet, and protect against the cannibalization, cable-ization and further consolidation of broadband technology.”
Clyburn: “Any proposal that favors the FCC being stripped of its rulemaking authority regarding consumer protection and non-discrimination requirements, and any proposal that would advocate that no agency will have authority over Internet access would be impossible for me to embrace and should leave us all wondering, if that should ever
happen, exactly who is going to protect Internet consumers?”
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