Senator claps back after Ajit Pai calls California’s net neutrality bill ‘radical’ and ‘illegal’
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has provoked a biting senatorial response from
California after calling the “nanny state’s” new net neutrality
legislation “radical,” “anti-consumer,” “illegal” and “burdensome.”
Senator Scott Wiener (D-CA), in response, said Pai has “abdicated his
responsibility to ensure an open internet” and that the FCC lacks the
authority to intervene.
The political flame war was kicked off this morning in Pai’s remarks at
the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a free market think tank. You can read
them in full here, but I’ve quoted the relevant part below:
Of course, those who demand greater government control of the
Internet haven’t given up. Their latest tactic is pushing state
governments to regulate the Internet. The most egregious example of this
comes from California. Last month, the California state legislature
passed a radical, anti-consumer Internet regulation bill that would
impose restrictions even more burdensome than those adopted by the FCC
in 2015.
If this law is signed by the Governor, what would it do? Among other
things, it would prevent Californian consumers from buying many
free-data plans. These plans allow consumers to stream video, music, and
the like exempt from any data limits. They have proven enormously
popular in the marketplace, especially among lower-income Americans. But
nanny-state California legislators apparently want to ban their
constituents from having this choice. They have met the enemy, and it is
free data.
The broader problem is that California’s micromanagement poses a
risk to the rest of the country. After all, broadband is an interstate
service; Internet traffic doesn’t recognize state lines. It follows that
only the federal government can set regulatory policy in this area. For
if individual states like California regulate the Internet, this will
directly impact citizens in other states.
Among other reasons, this is why efforts like California’s are illegal.
The bogeyman of banning zero rating plans has been raised again and
again, but everyone should understand now that the whole thing is a sham
— just another ploy by telecoms to parcel out data the way they choose.
The legal question is far from decided, but Pai has been crowing about a
recent court ruling for a week or so now, despite the fact that it has
very little to do with net neutrality. Ars Technica went into detail on
this ruling; the takeaway is that while it is possible that the FCC
could preempt state law on information services in some cases, it’s not
clear at all that it has any authority whatsoever to do so with
broadband services. Ironically, that’s because Pai’s FCC drastically
reduced the FCC’s jurisdiction with its reclassification of broadband in
Restoring Internet Freedom.
At any rate, more consequential legal challenges and questions are still
in the works, so Pai’s jubilation is somewhat premature.
“The Internet should be run by engineers, entrepreneurs, and
technologists, not lawyers, bureaucrats, and politicians,” he concluded.
Odd then that those very engineers, entrepreneurs and technologists
almost unanimously oppose his policy, while he — literally seconds
earlier — justified that policy via the world of lawyers, bureaucrats
and politicians.
Senator Wiener was quick to issue a correction to the Chairman’s
remarks. In an official statement, he explained that “Unlike Pai’s FCC,
California isn’t run by the big telecom and cable companies.” The
statement continued:
SB 822 is necessary and legal because Chairman Pai abdicated his
responsibility to ensure an open internet. Since the FCC says it no
longer has any authority to protect an open internet, it’s also the case
that the FCC lacks the legal power to preempt states from protecting
their residents and economy.
When Verizon was caught throttling the data connection of a wildfire
fighting crew in California, Chairman Pai said nothing and did nothing.
That silence says far more than his words today.
SB 822 is supported by a broad coalition of consumer groups, groups
advocating for low income people, small and mid-size technology
companies, labor unions, and President Obama’s FCC chairman, Tom
Wheeler. I’ll take that support over Ajit Pai any day of the week.
The law in question has been approved by the state legislature, but has
yet to be signed by Governor Jerry Brown, who has another two weeks to
consider it.
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