Complex Nature of Mozilla Proposal Shouldn't Disqualify It, Public Knowledge Says
The “complex nature” of Mozilla’s net neutrality proposal to classify broadband as a telecom service for edge providers “could create unexpected difficulties for enforcement" but should not disqualify it from consideration, Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld and Vice…
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President Michael Weinberg told FCC Chief Technology Officer Scott Jordan at a meeting Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1simO8r), said an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 14-28. Any user-controlled prioritization “should truly be the result of user decisions and control, and should not involve payment from edge providers to ISPs for prioritization,” Public Knowledge said. Allowing a regulated service such as voice phone calling to operate within a specific specialized service could be permissible under strong open Internet rules, but would have to continue to operate under existing regulatory protections, they said. The commission doesn't necessarily have to address potential abuses under interconnection agreements, but open Internet rules should recognize the possibility and begin to take steps to address them, they said. The Mozilla petition is “legally riskier” than straightforward Communications Act Title II reclassification because it relies on untested definitions and relationships between ISPs and users, said Sarah Morris, senior policy counsel for the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, at a meeting Monday that included Feld, Weinberg and an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1sYNRJI) posted in the same docket. It said OTI and Public Knowledge said Title II reclassification with forbearance is the “soundest, clearest path forward.”