Myth vs. Fact
Setting the Record Straight on Chairman Pai’s
Restoring Internet Freedom Order
MYTH:
This is the end of the Internet as we know it.
·
FACT:
The Internet was free and open before the Obama Administration’s 2015 heavy-handed
Title II Internet regulations, and it will be free and open after they are
repealed.
MYTH:
Startups will not be able to compete without Title II regulations.
·
FACT:
Entrepreneurs starting new businesses online thrived long before Title
II regulations, and they will continue to flourish with more opportunities to
innovate once those regulations are repealed.
Indeed, companies like Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Twitter all
started and experienced tremendous growth under the previous light-touch rules.
MYTH:
Internet service providers will block you from visiting the websites you
want to visit.
·
FACT:
Internet service providers didn’t block websites before the Obama
Administration’s heavy-handed 2015 Internet regulations and won’t after they
are repealed. Any Internet service
provider would be required to publicly disclose this practice and would face fierce consumer backlash
as well as scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, which will have renewed
authority to police unfair, deceptive, and anticompetitive practices.
MYTH:
Investment has flourished under the current regulatory framework.
·
FACT:
Following the adoption of the Obama Administration’s 2015 heavy-handed
Internet regulations, broadband investment has fallen for two years in a
row—the first time that’s happened outside of a recession in the Internet era.
MYTH:
Broadband providers will charge you a premium if you want to reach
certain online content.
·
FACT:
This didn’t happen before the Obama Administration’s 2015 heavy-handed
Internet regulations, and it won’t happen after they are repealed.
MYTH:
The current regulatory framework is good for competition.
·
FACT:
Title II regulations are bad for competition. They disproportionately burden the small
Internet service providers and new entrants that are best positioned to
introduce more competition into the broadband marketplace.
MYTH:
This will result in “fast lanes” and “slow lanes” on the Internet that
will worsen consumers’ online experience.
·
FACT:
Restoring Internet freedom will lead to better, faster, and cheaper
broadband for consumers and give startups that need priority access (such as
telehealth applications) the chance to offer new services to consumers.
MYTH:
Internet service will be provided in bundles like cable television as
has happened in Portugal.
·
FACT:
The Obama FCC itself made clear that the current rules in the United
States permit bundled offerings—or “curated” services, as they called it. So the law regarding bundled services will
not change. Furthermore, the Portugal comparison
is false; Portugal has net neutrality
rules, yet plans are still offered there that allow consumers to supplement
their mobile data plans with additional data packages containing specific
bundles of apps.
MYTH: Title II regulations are good for innovation.
·
FACT:
President Obama’s 2015 heavy-handed Internet regulations have deterred
companies from introducing new services and features. For instance, one major Internet service
provider has stated that it put on hold its plans to build out its out-of-home
Wi-Fi network because of the uncertainty surrounding the rules.
MYTH:
Reversing Title II regulations will compromise consumers’ online
privacy.
·
FACT:
Repealing the Obama Administration’s heavy-handed Internet regulations
will promote consumers’ online privacy.
Those regulations stripped the Federal Trade Commission of authority to
protect Americans’ broadband privacy. The
plan to restore Internet freedom, by contrast, will put the federal
government’s most experienced privacy cop back on the beat.
MYTH:
Repealing Title II regulations will make it harder for disadvantaged
Americans to get online.
FACT:
Restoring Internet freedom will lead to greater investment in building
and expanding broadband networks in rural and low-income areas as well as
additional competition—leading to better, faster, cheaper Internet access for
all Americans, including those on the wrong side of the digital divide.
MYTH:
The Federal Trade Commission is not well equipped and has far fewer
powers to protect consumers from misconduct by Internet service providers.
·
FACT:
The Federal Trade Commission has broad authority to police unfair,
deceptive, and anticompetitive practices online and has brought over 500
enforcement actions to protect consumers online, including actions against
Internet service providers and some of the biggest companies in the online
ecosystem. And unlike the FCC, the
Federal Trade Commission can order consumer redress (such as refunds) for
violations of federal law.
MYTH: More than 22 million people have filed
comments with the agency. They
overwhelmingly want the FCC to preserve and protect net neutrality.
·
FACT:
The commenting process is not an opinion poll—and for good reason. For example, one third of all comments
consist of a single, pro-Title II sentence: “I am in favor of strong net
neutrality under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.” These 7,568,949 identical comments, however, are
associated with only 50,508 unique names and street addresses. Indeed, 7,562,080 of these comments come from
45,001 “individuals” using email addresses from fakemailgenerator.com and
submitting the same comment more than 90 times each. In another example, over 400,000 comments
supporting Title II purport to come from “individuals” residing at the same address
in Russia. In any case, as required by
federal law, the Chairman’s plan is based on the facts and the law rather than
the quantity of comments. You can see
this for yourself at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1122/DOC-347927A1.pdf.
MYTH:
You can’t abandon the court-approved Title II rules without a change in
circumstances.
FACT:
The Supreme Court has reviewed and upheld only one framework for the
Internet—the light-touch framework that the FCC is returning to. And court precedent makes clear that the FCC can
return to that framework without any change in circumstances.
###
Office of Chairman Ajit Pai: (202) 418-2000
Twitter: @AjitPaiFCC
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission
action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes
official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).
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