Dear Chairwoman Rosenworcel,
The Texas Public Policy Foundation (Foundation) writes today in disapproval of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, WC Docket No. 23-320 – Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet (SSOI). The Foundation urges the Commission to vote against re-classifying Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as common carriers under Title II of the 1934 Telecommunications Act.
From the beginning of the internet, it was understood that access would be open and neutral. The earliest internet-related rulemaking actions of the FCC were oriented around the notion that access to the internet must be ubiquitous, its framework consistent, and that ISPs “exist in a minimal regulatory environment that promotes investment and innovation.”