FCC chair responds to net neutrality backlash: ‘I could not agree with you more’

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler responded to some of the most vocal critics of his proposal to allow Internet providers to charge content providers like Netflix for faster access to customers. In a letter to a tech coalition that includes Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and nearly 150 other companies, Chairman Wheeler said he will regulate broadband companies more heavily if the situation called for it.

Chairman Wheeler added that as an entrepreneur, he has also been "subject to being blocked from access to cable networks." "It is an experience that made me especially wary of the power of closed networks to innovate on their own agenda to the detriment of small entrepreneurs," Chairman Wheeler wrote. He also said his proposal is an attempt to adhere to the roadmap laid out by a federal court when it struck down the FCC's old net neutrality rules in January.

The FCC's newest proposal, which will be outlined to the public May 15, has drawn criticism from high-tech start-ups and consumer groups that fear that only the richest companies will be able to afford tolls exacted by Internet service providers.