Legislation has been filed opposing the US Federal Communication Commission’s Title II and net neutrality vote. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is driving the “Internet Freedom Act” which if passed will block the FCC from implementing its net neutrality proposal, including Title II, and strip the agency from issuing a new rule on the matter. The move is similar to one she took in July, trying to strip the FCC of regulatory powers, over a slightly different matter.
Blackburn claims that “Last week’s vote by the FCC to regulate the Internet like a 1930s era public utility is further proof that the Obama Administration will stop at nothing in their efforts to control the Internet. There is nothing ‘free and open’ about this heavy-handed approach. These overreaching rules will stifle innovation, restrict freedoms, and lead to billions of dollars in new fees and taxes for American consumers.”
There may be more to her bill than publicly put forth — she filed a bill in July to block municipal broadband build-outs at the federal level in July of 2014, for similar reasons, ostensibly to prevent federal interference. The vote last week also specifically allowed Tenessee — her own state — to extend a successful municipal broadband network.
Showing a lack of understanding on traffic prioritization, as well as a lack of familiarity with the stated provisions of the bill, Blackburn also claims that “once the federal government establishes a foothold into managing how Internet service providers run their networks they will essentially be deciding which content goes first, second, third, or not at all. My legislation will put the brakes on this FCC overreach and protect our innovators from these job-killing regulations.”
The bill specifies that “The rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in GN Docket No. 14-28 on February 26, 2015 (relating to broadband Internet access service) shall have no force or effect, and the Commission may not reissue such rule in substantially the same form, or issue a new rule that is substantially the same as such rule, unless the reissued or new rule is specifically author- ized by a law enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act.” Some exceptions are made for ensuring the public safety, or to prevent damage to the national security of the US, but the bill would remove all regulation powers over the Internet from the FCC.
Blackburn, who has taken $100,000 in lobbyist dollars from the cable industry in the last election, claims that she “has been leading the fight against the Obama Administration’s Net Neutrality regulations since they were first proposed in 2010 by Former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski.” The bill is supported by 33 Republicans, all with similar campaign contributions from the telecommunications industry.
