Senator Doesn't Buy FCC Justification for Killing Net Neutrality Senator Edward Markey this week questioned FCC boss Ajit Pai's justifications for killing popular net neutrality rules in a hearing in Washington this week. We've noted repeatedly that while large ISPs claim net neutrality killed broadband investment, objective analysis repeatedly finds that to be a lie. That's not just based on publicly-available SEC filings and earnings reports, but the industry's own repeated comments to investors and analysts.

But that doesn't stop AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Charter (and the ocean of politicians, think tankers, consultants and other PR vessels they employ to make this misleading argument in the media on a daily basis) from making the claim anyway. And while Pai once again this week breathlessly proclaimed that net neutrality put a damper on network investment, Markey simply wasn't having it. "Publicly traded companies are required by law to provide investors accurate financial information, including reporting any risks or financial burdens," Markey said. "However, I have found no publicly traded ISP that has reported to its investors by law that Title II has negatively impacted investment in their networks. Many, in fact, have increased deployment and investment." But Pai's NPRM for his plan to kill net neutrality proceeds as if this investment reduction is fact, which Wyden repeatedly contested. He also questioned if there's any substantive evidence to justifying repealing the popular protections at all. "I feel that the evidence [to repeal the rules] right now is not there and if it was, the broadband companies themselves would have in fact been providing that evidence to their investors in their filings, and they have not done so," Wyden said. "Anecdotal evidence is not evidence. There is no factual basis for that change." Despite more than Despite more than 10.5 million comments on Pai's plan to kill net neutrality protections (the majority in opposition to the plan), Pai is expected to ignore the public and push for a final vote to kill the rules later this year.







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Most recommended from 71 comments

Tch81

join:2015-08-10 31 recommendations Tch81 Member Okay So some people say this is not a partisan issue and not about GOP vs Dem but I am yet to see a single Republican stand up for the consumers and voice their opposition to the FCC.

maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 15 recommendations maartena Premium Member GOP, the party of killing.... GOP: Let's kill Net Neutrality, and make some vague promise of coming up with something better.

GOP: Let's kill Obamacare without a replacement, and make some vague promise of coming up with something better.



Instead, lets build a WALL for immigrants that mostly come across the border legally, and THEN let their visa expire, and lets implement a Muslim ban from several countries because we are afraid of them, while all 9/11 terrorists, London terrorists, Madrid terrorists, Paris terrorists and Brussels terrorists came from NONE of those particular countries.



GOP, nation building, you are doing it wrong. Horribly wrong.

Anon78ad6

@teksavvy.com 6 recommendations Anon78ad6 Anon Cancel your cable Let them know how you feel in the only way they listen, money. Dumping internet while keeping cable isn't harsh enough. Dump the TV itself. It won't be off for long. They are required to report potential earnings loss to investors and if the majority of customers dropped their subs CEOs would start running around like chickens with their heads cut off, because their earnings are tied to stock value - no stock value, no earnings. SArcanine

join:2009-11-09

New York 2 recommendations SArcanine Member Title II != Network Neutrality Title II is a subset of network neutrality. It is just 1 idea and it did not seem to do all that much. I think that we are exaggerating the benefits it posed and this is really just a bandage around the real issue.



The real issue is the lack of municipal networks that do line sharing. If we had them, then we would have dozens of ISP choices and they'd have to do their best for us if they want to stay in business. Network neutrality would be a non-issue.



Having the last mile maintained by a neutral entity would also prevent any sort of sabotage that an incumbent would try if it operated the last mile. It is not like we have dedicated lines to the central office these days that the ILEC can connect to the CLEC such that there is no chance of subtle sabotage. With shared infrastructure, there is plenty of opportunity. :/ firedrakes

join:2009-01-29

Arcadia, FL 2 recommendations firedrakes Member if ajit does pass it. i wonder the revolt seeing we had 10 million comment and a ton of companies and congressmen. say its a good thing