Baker at State of the Net

Speaking to the Congressional Internet Caucus' State of the Net Conference, Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Baker said she's "found that there is no agreed definition of 'net neutrality' and different people often end up talking past one another because they don't have a shared concept of what we mean by "net neutrality." There seems to be broad consensus that networks must be managed to control spam and prevent unlawful content, but there is not as much agreement as I would like to see about the role of network operators in protecting intellectual property on the Internet. There is broad agreement that consumers should be empowered to control their Internet experience and the benefit to consumers should be the focus of any rules that we may adopt. And perhaps most surprisingly to me, while the most extreme net neutrality advocates want to see a network of heavily regulated dumb pipes where innovation is isolated to the edge, many recognize that quality of service can be advantageous, even necessary, for consumers. Even though some advocates fear theoretical abuses, they concede that the Internet experience today wouldn't be what it is without network management by our network operators. And I think a particularly promising area of potential consensus is transparency. To me, transparency is what the Open Internet is all about. Done right, transparency rules could obviate the need for other regulations of network management altogether by empowering consumers with information to make more informed choices about broadband."