US: Former FTC Chair opposes net neutrality bill

Former Obama Administration Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Jon Leibowitz was in Massachusetts Tuesday, April 3, to argue against a state bill creating its own network neutrality rules and regulations and internet service providers(ISP) contract terms and online privacy protections in the wake of the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) elimination of its own regulations.

Leibowtiz is a partner at Davis Polk in Washington, where his clients have included Comcast, and co-chair of the ISP-backed 21st Century Privacy Coalition, which he said said he was representing, though he added that his views were his own.

According to his prepared testimony for a hearing before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, Leibowitz said he recognized “the sky did not fall” when the FCC, during the Obama Administration, reclassified ISPs as Title II common carriers. But he said that reclassification did have costs to consumers, including diminished deployment of broadband, according to the FCC, as well as removing broadband consumer protection from the FTC’s jurisdiction.

Leibowitz said the FCC’s December. 14 vote to reclassify ISPs back to the “light touch” regime of Title I will not result in a falling sky, either. Instead, he said, it will re-empower the FTC to protect broadband consumers and competition once again.

Full Content: Mother Board

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