Internet Freedom Coalition Opposes FCC Regulation of Internet
Free-Market Advocates Argue Regulations Are Unnecessary, Harmful, and Unauthorized
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Massive government intrusion into the free and open operation of the Internet by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not only unnecessary, but would almost certainly harm this monument to entrepreneurship and freedom," according to Internet Freedom Coalition Chairman Phil Kerpen.
The Internet Freedom Coalition (IFC) is an ad hoc coalition of organizations and individuals committed to the continued growth and improvement of the Internet, who believe regulations and taxes are harmful to those ends. The Internet Freedom Coalition believes that a free and open Internet is beneficial to society, but argues that regulatory intervention in the well-functioning marketplace that has thus far produced a vast, free and open network would unnecessarily limit the current and future supply of bandwidth, and would harm both producers and consumers.
The comments on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Matter of Preserving the open Internet Broadband Industry Practices, argue that:
- The current unregulated environment has fostered enormous grow in bandwidth, competition, adoption, and the free use of rapidly emerging applications.
- The Commission has not provided any evidence of a market failure or pattern of abuses.
- Even well-meaning regulations to enforce a policy of "non-discrimination" risks harming reasonable network management efforts which are a clearly beneficial.
- It remains a question whether the FCC has legal authority to promulgate network neutrality rules, and even if it did, the Justice Department and the FTC are better suited to make judgments as to anti-competitive behavior.
The comments conclude that "Unless and until the Commission determines both that a significant problem exists, and also that the Commission is more qualified to deal with that problem than are the existing antitrust authorities -- which unlike the Commission, have clear congressional authority -- the Commission should defer to those existing authorities."
Signatories on the Internet Freedom Coalition include:
Phil Kerpen
Chairman, Internet Freedom Coalition
Vice President for Policy, Americans for Prosperity
Tim Phillips
President
Americans for Prosperity
Andrew Langer
President
Institute for Liberty
Pete Sepp
Vice President for Policy & Communications
National Taxpayers Union
Hance Haney
Director & Senior Fellow
Technology & Democracy Project
Discovery Institute
Jeffrey Mazzella
President
Center for Individual Freedom
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
Chris Butler
Executive Director
Media Freedom Project
Karri Bragg
Executive Vice President
Citizen Outreach
Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.
VP for Policy, Director of Technology Studies
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Don Racheter
President
Public Interest Institute (Iowa)
James G. Lakely
Co-director, Center on the Digital Economy
The Heartland Institute
Susan Gore
Founder
Wyoming Liberty Group
Tom Schatz
President
Citizens Against Government Waste
David A. Keene
Chairman
American Conservative Union
Bartlett D Cleland
Director, Center for Technology Freedom
Institute for Policy Innovation
Jim Martin
Chairman
60 Plus Association
Andrew F. Quinlan
President
Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Barrett E. Kidner
Chairman & CEO
Caesar Rodney Institute
SOURCE Internet Freedom Coalition
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