Reality Check for Carly Fiorina on Open Internet Policy

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[Commentary] Some technology policy experts have decried recently that national discussions around network neutrality or Open Internet access reflect a lack of policy depth. Fortunately, these elitist concerns about citizen participation in public policy decisions can be dismissed as patronizing at best. Meanwhile, in an April 7 CNN opinion article by tech CEO Carly Fiorina, entitled “Obama’s Net Neutrality Failure,” we find an alarming lack of policy depth for an industry executive that misleads readers. In her opinion piece, Fiorina echoes outdated, inaccurate claims about the Federal Communications Commission’s new rules. Repeating these false claims shows that she is either not familiar with the long history of the Open Internet debate, or just brazen enough to carelessly perpetuate falsehoods. Americans have varying degrees of knowledge and expertise on tech policy, but they all know they need reliable Open Internet access to be the policy outcome.

We applaud public comment at any level of sophistication about keeping the Internet open and preventing interference and service degradation by network operators. Policymakers and industry executives have a higher standard. We expect leaders to consider competing concerns in the development of responsible public policy. Fiorina and others who distort the facts are failing to lead constructively. Fortunately, we have an expert agency where commissioners take this responsibility seriously. Their strong net neutrality protections finally meet public expectations after over a decade of advocacy and debate.

[Chris Lewis is vice president for government affairs at Public Knowledge.
Cathy Sloan is a telecommunications lawyer, and was vice president for government relations at the Computer and Communications Industry Association for the past eight years]


Reality Check for Carly Fiorina on Open Internet Policy