Comments to FCC on Title II Reclassification Proceeding

In comments filed July 16 with the FCC, ITIF urged the Commission to refrain from invoking the "nuclear option" of Title II regulation on the fast-growing market for broadband Internet services. The Internet is a rapidly evolving system built on different technology and driven by different economic circumstances than the telephone network for which Title II was drafted. Network operators need the freedom to develop novel responses to the Internet's constantly-changing conditions, which is problematic under a Title II framework with a telephony-oriented anti-discrimination rule. Congress is already at work revising the law that gives the FCC its authority, and there is no compelling reason to short-circuit the policy development process.