The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has
formed an "Internet Access Task Force" to examine whether net
neutrality advocates' fears of large broadband providers blocking
or slowing Web content from competitors are justified, the agency's
chairwoman said.
Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras on Monday also called on
lawmakers to be cautious about passing a net neutrality law, which
could prohibit broadband providers such as AT&T Inc. and
Comcast Corp. from giving their own Internet content top priority,
or from charging Web sites additional fees for faster service.
Net neutrality advocates are sincere in their concerns, Majoras
said during a speech at the Progress and Freedom
Foundation's (PFF's) Aspen Summit in Colorado. "I just question
the starting assumption that government regulation, rather than the
market itself under existing laws, will provide the best solution
to a problem," she said.
New legal mandates often have "unintended consequences," she
said. But the FTC will investigate problems with discriminatory
practices from broadband providers, Majoras added.
"While I am sounding cautionary notes about new legislation, let
me make clear that if broadband providers engage in anticompetitive
conduct, we will not hesitate to act using our existing authority,"
she said. "But I have to say, thus far, proponents of net
neutrality regulation have not come to us to explain where the
market is failing or what anticompetitive conduct we should
challenge."
Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, welcomed the FTC's
examination of net neutrality.
"We certainly look forward to the analysis of an agency that
exists to protect competition of the broadband market in which 98
percent of customers receive their service from either the
telephone company or the cable company, if they have that choice at
all," Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said in an e-mail.
"There are no market forces at work here, much as Chairman Majoras
wishes there to be."
The FTC will host a conference, from Nov. 6 to 8, focusing on
protecting consumers in an era of converging technologies, Majoras
also announced. The conference, named "Protecting Consumers in the
Next Tech-Ade," will focus on emerging trends, applications,
products, services and tech issues in the next decade, she
said.
The preliminary agenda is at:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/techade/tech-ade_agenda_preliminary.pdf.
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