Net neutrality advocates lauded President Barack Obama for...
Net neutrality advocates lauded President Barack Obama for his remarks Thursday during an innovation town hall meeting in Los Angeles. “I was opposed to it when I ran,” Obama said of paid prioritization deals. “I continue to be opposed to…
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it now.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “knows my position” but Obama “can’t just call him up and tell him exactly what to do,” Obama said, noting that the FCC’s an independent agency. “But what I've been clear about, what the White House has been clear about is, is that we expect whatever final rules to emerge to make sure that we're not creating two or three or four tiers of Internet.” Obama said he’s “unequivocally committed” to net neutrality and “we don’t want to lose that or clog up the pipes” of the Internet. Free Press President Craig Aaron issued a statement arguing that Wheeler has “lost political support” from Obama for his net neutrality proposal, which Free Press and some others believe would not ban the prioritization deals Obama mentions opposing. Aaron called for Title II reclassification of broadband. Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal said “anything short” of reclassification is now “a betrayal of Internet users, of free speech and democracy, and a violation of the President’s expressed wishes.” Internet Association President Michael Beckerman lauded Obama for his support for “enforceable net neutrality rules” that keep consumers free from Internet slow lanes. That group’s members include AOL, Facebook, Google, Netflix and Yahoo.