McDowell: FCC Should Lead Coordinated Consumer Protection Effort, Not Reclassify Broadband

Speaking to the Federal Society's National Lawyers Convention, Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell said the debate over whether the FCC should regulate Internet network management hasn't changed much in the past year.

One question regarding the FCC's authority to regulate Internet network management under Title I has been answered by the D.C. Circuit in its decision in the Comcast v. FCC case. The court ruled that the FCC failed to show what underlying statutory mandate provided the legal foundation needed to claim Title I ancillary authority to regulate the Internet. The court did not go so far as to say that the Commission had absolutely no authority to act. It merely determined that the FCC failed to make its case.

Commissioner McDowell suggests that the FCC create a heightened role for itself. It could lead a coordinated effort with similarly inspired partners such as already established, non-governmental, Internet governance groups, the Federal Trade Commission and other antitrust and consumer protection agencies, public interest and consumer groups, trade associations, academics, engineers, economists and others. This new alliance could spotlight allegations of anticompetitive behavior and use already existing consumer protection and antitrust laws to punish bad actors and aid consumers. Coupled with a continued drive to create new opportunities for broadband competition, such an approach could help preserve the open and freedom-enhancing Internet we enjoy under today's deregulatory model, all without the uncertainty, costs and risks new rules always bring.