Pai Pans Open Internet Order

FCC commissioner Ajit Pai has weighed in on the 332-page Open Internet draft, which he calls "President Obama's plan" to regulate the Internet.    

That is a reference to the fact that President Obama came out strongly for Title II reclassification of Internet access last fall, which the plan proposes.    

"I am disappointed that the plan will not be released publicly," he said in a public statement. Pai then outlined what he said were the key takeaways.    

"First, President Obama’s plan marks a monumental shift toward government control of the Internet. It gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the Internet works. It’s an overreach that will let a Washington bureaucracy, and not the American people, decide the future of the online world. It’s no wonder that net neutrality proponents are already bragging that it will turn the FCC into the “Department of the Internet.” For that reason, if you like dealing with the IRS, you are going to love the President’s plan.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.