Surprise! We agree with the president s principles on net neutrality.
— Comcast, that s right, Comcast. The cable company and broadband provider says it agrees with what the net neutrality principles President Obama laid out this week — no throttling, no blocking, no paid prioritization ( that is our practice, Comcast Executive VP David Cohen wrote in a blog post Tuesday). But surprise, here s what the company doesn t agree with: reclassifying broadband under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which would allow the FCC to regulate broadband as a common carrier.
Obama recommends Title II reclassification, something broadband providers don t want because they say it would hinder innovation. Instead, Comcast says the rules can be issued under another section of the Telecommunications Act, which would still limit the FCC s power over regulating broadband.
By the way, Ars Technica points out that Comcast s commitment to no throttling, no blocking and no paid prioritization doesn t exactly stem from the kindness of its heart. It s mandated (until 2018) because of the company s purchase of NBC Universal.
In other net neutrality news, AT&T says it s suspending work on bringing fiber connections to 100 cities because it doesn t know how broadband will be regulated. We think it is prudent to just pause and make sure we have line of sight and understanding as to what those rules would look like, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said.
And finally, although the FCC had previously stated it intended to adopt new net neutrality rules by the end of the year, it isn t going to happen. It won t be on the December agenda, the agency s press secretary told the Daily Dot.
Photo from Associated Press archives
