Antitrust Lawyer Blog
On November 10, 2014, President Obama forcefully stated his position on net neutrality. While acknowledging that the FCC is the agency that has the authority to create new rules protecting net neutrality, President Obama stated that the FCC should create “the strongest possible rules” to stop “paid prioritization” and other actions that favor the transmission of certain content. President Obama believes all content providers should be treated equally. Therefore, he is not in favor of the deals that Netflix cut with Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and Time Warner Cable earlier this year. Indeed, President Obama does not believe that the cable company or phone company should act as a gatekeeper.
President Obama lists four bright-line rules:
- No blocking. If a consumer requests access to a website or service, and the content is legal, your ISP should not be permitted to block it. That way, every player — not just those commercially affiliated with an ISP — gets a fair shot at your business.