Comcast Loves Obama’s Net Neutrality Plan, Except for That Title II Part
Comcast today said it supports President Obama’s entire network neutrality proposal—except for that part about reclassifying broadband as a utility.
“What is remarkable is that if you compare the President’s articulation of his vision for net neutrality as set forth in the White House talking points released yesterday afternoon, we are on the record as agreeing with every point,” Comcast Executive VP David Cohen wrote in a blog post titled, “Surprise! We agree with the president’s principles on net neutrality.” The areas of agreement between Comcast and Obama are as follows, he wrote:
Free and open Internet. We agree—and that is our practice.
No blocking. We agree—and that is our practice.
No throttling. We agree—and that is our practice.
Increased transparency. We agree—and that is our practice.
No paid prioritization. We agree—and that is our practice.
Comcast has to follow net neutrality rules until 2018 because of conditions imposed on its purchase of NBCUniversal. Net neutrality rules that apply to all ISPs would put Comcast and its competitors on a level playing field in that regard. But Obama and Comcast disagree on how to implement them. Obama said that the Federal Communications Commission needs to reclassify consumer broadband service as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act in order to impose these rules.
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