Pai's Plan to Gut FCC Authority Will Harm Consumers, FTC Says With consumer broadband privacy protections now dead, FCC boss Ajit Pai is wasting no time meeting with broadband industry lobbyists ahead of his plan to kill net neutrality and the FCC's oversight over broadband providers. To try and sell this idea to the public, Pai and ISPs have been in lock step claiming that consumers needn't worry -- because the FTC will rush in and fill in any enforcement gaps.

But former FCC boss Tom Wheeler has called this narrative a " fraud ," pointing out that the FTC doesn't really have oversight over broadband providers, has no rule-making authority, and is so over-extended that most enforcement will fall through the cracks (precisely why ISPs are lobbying for the shift). FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny similarly tells Ars Technica that Pai's plan would leave consumers out on a limb, with ISPs facing less accountability than ever before. "We are a very hard-working agency but we’re not a very big agency," McSweeny said. "The FTC doesn't have a lot of expertise in network engineering. We're not the FCC in that regard." The FTC receives "millions of consumer complaints every year" across all industries under its jurisdiction, and "we can’t act on every single complaint." Wheeler had argued that consumer broadband issues getting "lost in this morass" was the entire reason ISPs want the shift. McSweeney also didn't think much of Pai's plan to eliminate hard net neutrality rules with "voluntary" commitments from ISPs, saying such a system would result in "issues with detection." "How would consumers know this is happening and when would they know to complain?" she asked. "Moving from a clear ex ante rule around the open Internet and requirements that maintain an open Internet, and moving to this ex post enforcement kind of world is going to strongly tilt everything in favor of the incumbents," McSweeny added. "It will be harder potentially for innovators and edge providers to make sure that they are being treated fairly and in a nondiscriminatory way." There's also the fact that ISPs may be able to avoid FTC scrutiny entirely, courtesy of AT&T lawyers. When AT&T was fighting the FTC's attempt to hold AT&T accountable for lying about throttling, a federal appeals court rules that AT&T was free of FTC oversight -- just as long as it has some type of common carrier business. This has opened the door to companies acquiring at least a small common carrier business to dodge FTC accountability, undermining all oversight. "In order to make sure that this isn’t just a no-cops-on-the-beat plan, the FTC Act would actually have to be amended by Congress to eliminate the common carrier exemption," McSweeny said. And guess the likelihood of a cash-compromised Congress making that actually happen? The end result will be less regulatory oversight over one of the least competitive industries in America. And while that might be ok for a market that has heated broadband competition, it's trouble for a broadband market where the lion's share of consumers lack the ability to subscribe to more than one ISP at speeds of 25 Mbps. Once again there's a reason large ISPs are spending millions to lobby for the reversal of Title II and to kill FCC oversight -- and it's not to help you out. Once again there's a reason large ISPs are spending millions to lobby for the reversal of Title II and to kill FCC oversight -- and it's not







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Most recommended from 15 comments

elbertdavis

join:2016-02-08

Crown City, OH 41 recommendations elbertdavis Member No surprise... Everything Pai has planned is intended to harm consumers and keep his future ISP employers happy.

Anonc1e3e

@digitalocean.com 9 recommendations Anonc1e3e Anon Consumers can complain People including myself can complain on sites such as dslreports but change only happens during political elections. And until america want generous consumer protection and vote republicans out of office,very little will benefit the average consumer. TheRogueX

join:2003-03-26

Springfield, MO 7 recommendations TheRogueX Member "Voluntary" Anytime corporations say they're willing to voluntarily regulate themselves and people actually believe them, I find myself questioning if humans really are an intelligent form of life.

tc1uscg

join:2005-03-09

Guantanamo 3 recommendations tc1uscg Member Gee, why stop there? So, why stop at the FCC's authority over ISP's. Maybe they need to vacate thier authority over amature radio operators too while they are at it (sarcasim). Gut the authority of the FCC? You mean no more little stinky white vans snooping the airwaves catching unlicensed radio's? Can I let my "use" licenses laps and not worry about getting fined for using my radio on the MURS radio freq's? I some how doubt that's the part he wants to gut.So, why stop at the FCC's authority over ISP's. Maybe they need to vacate thier authority over amature radio operators too while they are at it (sarcasim).