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Press Release
Free Press: Backroom Industry Deals Shouldn’t Determine Future of the Internet
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
WASHINGTON -- Responding to reports that the Federal Communications Commission held a closed-door meeting with industry representatives to broker a deal on the future of the open Internet, Free Press President and CEO Josh Silver issued the following statement:
“It is stunning that the FCC would convene meetings between industry giants to allow them determine how the agency should best protect the public interest. The Obama administration promised a new era of transparency, and to ‘take a backseat to no one’ on Net Neutrality, but these meetings seem to indicate that this FCC has no problem brokering backroom deals without any public input or scrutiny.
“It is odd that the FCC would even think it is appropriate to be brokering such a deal, given the agency’s authority is in jeopardy. Without reasserting its legal authority over broadband, the FCC can’t implement whatever unlikely consensus is reached by these industry giants. The FCC must abandon this misguided effort and follow through with its plan to re-establish its legal authority to promote universal access and protect the open Internet."
“It is stunning that the FCC would convene meetings between industry giants to allow them determine how the agency should best protect the public interest. The Obama administration promised a new era of transparency, and to ‘take a backseat to no one’ on Net Neutrality, but these meetings seem to indicate that this FCC has no problem brokering backroom deals without any public input or scrutiny.
“It is odd that the FCC would even think it is appropriate to be brokering such a deal, given the agency’s authority is in jeopardy. Without reasserting its legal authority over broadband, the FCC can’t implement whatever unlikely consensus is reached by these industry giants. The FCC must abandon this misguided effort and follow through with its plan to re-establish its legal authority to promote universal access and protect the open Internet."
