ohlhausen

On December 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 to adopt the Restoring Internet Freedom Order and in doing so, scrapped its net neutrality rules that were put in place in 2015.

Net Neutrality is a principle that allows for an open and free internet. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs”) are the gatekeepers to all content on the internet. Net Neutrality rules prohibited ISPs from unfairly discriminating against others by speeding up, slowing down, throttling, or blocking the delivery of internet traffic. Net Neutrality is what gives users the freedom as they browse through web pages, apps or any other content available on the internet.

By scrapping the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules, ISPs will be free to act without burdensome regulations, which imposed substantial costs, chilled investment, and lessened innovation. ISPs, however, will be required to disclose information about their practice to consumers, entreprenuers, and the Commission, including any blocking, throttling, paid prioritization, or affiliated prioritization. While the FCC is returning to a light touch approach, its action restores the FTC’s jurisdiction to act when ISPs or broadband providers get out of line through unfair, deceptive, or anticompetitive acts.

On February 16, 2017, Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Acting Chairman of FTC, announced that she appointed Abbott (Tad) Lipsky, a partner at the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP, to be the Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, effective March 6, 2017.

Lipsky brings with him over 40 years of experience in antitrust law. He started his legal career as an attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), where he focused on deregulation and enhancing competition and antitrust enforcement in certain regulated sectors of the economy, including the aviation, transportation and energy industries. Following a break from government service, he returned to the DOJ in 1981 upon his appointment as Deputy Assistant Attorney General to President Reagan’s first Assistant Attorney General, William F. Baxter. At Latham & Watkins, Lipsky’s practice focused on a range of antitrust matters in many countries around the world. He is co-chair of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) International Task Force, and most recently served on the Antitrust Section’s Presidential Transition Task Force. Lipsky previously served as the chief global antitrust counsel to the Coca-Cola Company from 1992-2002. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics cum laude from Amherst College, an M.A. in Economics from Stanford University, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

As part of these staff changes, Acting Chairman Ohlhausen appointed Alan Devlin as Acting Deputy Director of the Competition Bureau. Devlin previously served as an Attorney Advisor to Acting Chairman Ohlhausen. Devlin, who joined the FTC in 2015 from the law firm of Latham & Watkins, teaches antitrust as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center. And Chairman Ohlhausen also appointed Svetlana S. Gans, a former Attorney Advisor and litigation attorney within both the Bureaus of Consumer Protection and Competition, as her Chief of Staff. Gans joined the FTC in 2010 from private practice, where she focused on antitrust and consumer protection matters, with previous experience at the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.

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