Net neutrality rules will be used to regulate online marketers, advertisers and app developers

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[Commentary] Data is the bedrock America’s $1 trillion digital Internet economy and a driver of America’s third-largest export, digital goods and services. Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission’s new rules, which impose a framework from 1934 on today’s Internet, could put a significant damper on this flourishing part of the American Internet ecosystem. A nightmare scenario would be for the FCC to take the path of the European Union’s cookie law, which requires that every time a user visits a website, a screen or pop-up window appears requesting the user to accept or reject information collection. Information Technology and Innovation Foundation estimates the cost of industry compliance and lost user productivity to be some $2.3 billion annually, as it takes users about two seconds per website to process the annoying pop-up. It is widely agreed that the law is a disaster, and it is slated for review by the new EU commission. Furthermore, the FCC’s net neutrality regulations could also restrict the use of application program interfaces (APIs), network information which is made available by telecommunications operators to enable edge providers to make mobile apps.

It is increasingly evident that what the FCC billed as rules to protect a free and open Internet are a bait and switch for more government surveillance and regulation of the parts of the Internet that were supposed to be kept free from meddling. The FCC has overstepped its bounds, and it’s time for Congress to define the rules and the FCC’s authority.

[Roslyn Layton studies Internet economics at the Center for Communication, Media, and Information Technologies (CMI) at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark]


Net neutrality rules will be used to regulate online marketers, advertisers and app developers