Innovation Policy Post

The FCC’s proposed rules to protect non-discriminatory access to the Internet for households and small businesses are needed to ensure no Internet Access Provider regulates the Internet, said Computer & Communications Industry Association Vice President Cathy Sloan on a C-SPAN program this weekend.

“The Communicators” program on the proposal to reclassify the transmission of high speed broadband as a telecommunications service aired on C-SPAN this weekend. It also airs Monday at 8pm on C-SPAN 2.
(Watch the video on Youtube)

Sloan appeared on the show along with USTelecom President Walter McCormick. She said that CCIA generally opposes government regulation, but that this light touch approach by FCC Chairman Genachowski is critical to preserving open Internet access following a court ruling that invalidated the former FCC's approach to protecting Internet users.

Both Sloan and McCormick said they support Congress rewriting the Telecommunications Act, but Sloan said that given Congressional legislation will likely take a couple years, this FCC action would help preserve how the Internet operates in the interim.