The Consumer Federation of America is a long-standing consumer group that is involved in telecom as well as a range of other issues. Now in its forty-second year, the organization was founded to represent state and local consumer groups at the federal level. Founders, explained CFA Research Director Mark Cooper, "realized that a lot of policies that affect the consumer are set in Washington -- we're usually invited to a state to help on an important issue, and we frequently get members to sign on to comments to the FCC." CFA attempts to influence policy in a variety of ways, Cooper said. "We file comments, issue research, talk to the press, write letters to Capitol Hill and testify a lot," he said. When it comes to telecom policy matters, however, Cooper appears to be using the royal "we." "I'm the telecom staff," he said. In the mid-eighties, CFA played a big role in shaping the Lifeline and Linkup programs that use Universal Service funding to support the costs of telephone service for low-income consumers. "We did the research that created the programs," Cooper said. Today, CFA is "very active" in supporting Network Neutrality efforts, Cooper said. "The open character of the Internet is its essential feature and preserving it is critical," he said. CFA fought hard to get the four principles of net neutrality into several policy rulings. Those principles attempt to achieve what some refer to as an "open Internet" by asserting, for example, that consumers should be able to attach any device to the network. "We want a fifth principle to say that the first four are enforceable," Cooper said.
