Attorney Evans Cites Much Net Neutrality Consensus, Urges Compromise on Sticking Points
Net neutrality has broad agreement despite battles between "antagonists on the letter of the law," wrote Fletcher Heald telecom attorney Don Evans, in a commentary distributed via a media relations group. He said widely supported principles include: companies shouldn't be…
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allowed to block or throttle legitimate traffic based on content; access rules, prices and conditions should be transparent to users; and internet access rates can't become "unreasonably high" due to the dominance of a provider. Evans acknowledged disagreements over whether the FCC or FTC should enforce some safeguards, and over whether personal customer data should be allowed on an opt-in or opt out basis, hoping the agencies can work out a single privacy approach. He said paid prioritization treatment is disputed, but a "compromise is within reach." Ideally, he said, Congress would update "outdated" statutory definitions; if not, "a modified form of the Title II common carrier model would fit best," with forbearance from "virtually all" telecom regulation. While the previous FCC seemed to pursue this approach, it "ended up tilting too far toward regulation," he said