Republican net neutrality bill allows 'reasonable' network management
Draft net neutrality legislation released Friday by Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or selectively slowing legal Web content, but it would allow them to engage in reasonable network management.
The proposal would give broadband providers wide latitude to engage in network management, with a management practice deemed reasonable if it is appropriate and tailored to achieving a legitimate network management purpose.
The draft legislation would also prohibit the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from reclassifying broadband as a regulated public utility, and it would stop the agency from creating any new net neutrality rules.
The draft legislation is a thoughtful path forward that protects consumers online, said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. By clearly outlining the appropriate rules of the road, and leaving 20th century utility regulation behind, we can be sure that innovators continue full throttle in bringing remarkable new technologies to all Americans, Upton said in a statement. This is the right solution that everyone, if they are serious in standing up for consumers, should be able to get behind.
Under the proposals network management definition, broadband providers can take into account their particular network architecture and any technology and operational limitations when crafting network management practices, according to the text of the draft bill.
The entire definition of a reasonable network management practice, running about 45 words, is borrowed from the FCCs 2010 net neutrality rules that were later partially overturned by an appeals court. But many advocates of strong net neutrality rules protested a proposal earlier this year from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that would have allowed broadband providers to engage in commercially reasonable network management, saying it would give providers a wide exemption to the rules.
The network management definition in the draft bill could be a loophole for broadband providers, said John Bergmayer, senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge, a digital rights group advocating for strong net neutrality rules.
The Republican proposal prohibits broadband providers from blocking and selectively slowing Web content, applications and services, but thats subject to reasonable network management. The draft bill does prohibit broadband providers from entering into paid traffic prioritization deals with now allowance for reasonable network management, although the bill appears to allow middle-mile traffic deals, like ones Netflix has signed with major broadband providers, Bergmayer said.
The draft legislations prohibition of the FCC reclassifying broadband under Title II of the Telecommunications Act is the wrong approach, added Matt Wood, policy director at digital rights group Free Press. This bill would legalize any and every other form of discrimination that the ISPs could dream up, he said by email. It does that by stripping the FCC of rule-making authority and handcuffing the agencys ability to adapt to new circumstances.
The draft proposals prohibition against a net neutrality rule-making proceeding at the FCC may be the biggest of several problems, Bergmayer added. The proposal would require the FCC to act on net neutrality complaints filed by consumers or companies, and its unclear whether the FCC could set precedent by acting on a complaint, he said.
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Republican net neutrality bill allows 'reasonable' network management