NEWS Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974). News Media Information: (202) 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: (888) 835-5322 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: FROM THE OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI Matthew Berry (202) 418-2005 March 9, 2015 Email: Matthew.Berry@fcc.gov WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PLAN TO REGULATE THE INTERNET: POST-ADOPTION EDITION “THE FCC JUST APPROVED PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PLAN.” Democratic National Committee (Feb. 26, 2015) https://twitter.com/TheDemocrats/status/571050350964305920 “[W]e are concerned with the FCC’s decision to base new rules for the modern Internet on decades-old telephone regulations designed for a very different technological era.” The Internet Society (Feb. 26, 2015) http://bit.ly/1LMwvH9 “Title II is for setting up monopolies, not tearing them apart. We need competition, not regulation. We need engineers not lawyers.” John Perry Barlow, Co-Founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Mar. 2, 2015) https://twitter.com/jpbarlow/status/572607628494307328 “It was a problem that wasn’t broken, didn’t need fixing.” “This is another process for government officials, elected officials, to create unneeded controversy so that they can get both sides of the argument to donate a heck of a lot of money to keep themselves in power, and continue to drive the regulation economy.” Scott McNealy, Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems and Chairman of Wayin (Mar. 3, 2015) http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000358707 “With this vote, the Commission has . . . placed regulatory shackles and new legal risks on the Internet and those who use this technological marvel to create critical new services, products and jobs. The end result for consumers: less choice, higher costs and reduced innovation.” Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (Feb. 26, 2015) http://bit.ly/1aqiOlv “Were we pleased it pushed to Title II? Probably not. . . . We were hoping there might be a non- regulated solution.” David Wells, CFO of Netflix (Mar. 5, 2015) http://bayareane.ws/1AQIvAT “We’ve had 15 years of marvelous success, just stunning success on the Internet . . . . Our seven top technology companies are all related to the Internet. The US has four times the investment in fixed broadband than Europe, with its government intervention, and twice the investment in wireless. Most of Internet traffic in the world flows through the US. What on earth is wrong that the FCC thinks it has to reduce it to a public utility?” George Gilder, Economist and Author of Microcosm, Telecosm and The Silicon Eye (Mar. 2, 2015) http://loglr.com/i/262058 “U.S. net neutrality rules will help Europe take the lead in broadband, Cisco CEO John Chambers says. The regulations approved last week by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will slow down broadband deployment, Chambers said at Mobile World Congress on Tuesday. Instead of focusing on net neutrality, the government should aim for more available broadband, he said. ‘Sometimes, if you’re not careful, your regulatory goals can slow down your end goals,’ Chambers said.” Computerworld (Mar. 3, 2015) http://bit.ly/1EXlCCm “The US represents 70% to 80% of the [global] information technology economy -- why would you reverse your strategy that got us to this point?” Daniel Berninger, Co-Founder of Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition and Founder of Voice Communication Exchange Committee (Mar. 2, 2015) http://loglr.com/i/262058 “Let the lawsuits begin. The courts will rule the Internet for the next however many years.” “There’s going to be a whac-a-mole environment going forward on our Internet. It’s crazy.” Mark Cuban, Internet Entrepreneur (Feb. 26, 2015) http://www.cnbc.com/id/102459578 “I am very concerned that in the era of the Title II Internet, we will see many fewer communication innovators come forward because of regulatory uncertainty.” Jeff Pulver, VoIP Pioneer (Mar. 2, 2015) http://loglr.com/i/262058 “The Internet poses many genuine problems, led by cybersecurity; net neutrality is not among them. It is an opportunity to impose more regulation that, as the example of the railroads warns, threatens to exact a slow and growing economic toll on the Internet’s vitality.” Robert Samuelson, The Washington Post (Mar. 4, 2015) http://wapo.st/1GkgMAK “The FCC is claiming that it is supporting net neutrality but they are not making anything neutral or fair. What they are doing is making it possible for the FCC to decide what is neutral and fair whenever they feel like it. They are making it possible for the FCC to impose new taxes on the [I]nternet, to impose new obligations and basically to impose anything that the FCC eventually decides that it wants to impose on this industry.” “Net neutering . . . is the process that the FCC has chosen to begin today.” Dr. Michelle Connolly, Professor of Economics at Duke University and former Chief Economist at the Federal Communications Commission (Feb. 26, 2015) http://bit.ly/1AQIhtr “In the first instance, there is no evidence of systemic misconduct that would justify dramatically expanding the FCC’s power to regulate the Internet. In a classic case of fixing something that ain’t broke, the FCC has reached for the biggest possible hammer to deal with abuses that have yet to happen.” Will Marshall, President of the Progressive Policy Institute (Feb. 27, 2015) http://bit.ly/1EB1DIW “You should be open and fair in terms of Internet access . . . [b]ut there are some services that simply require a different level of connectivity and a different level of service. Driverless cars— you’re not going to do this in a ‘best effort’ network. . . . To be able to make money like any other industry, you pay higher for a better degree of service, even though you all have that service. Airlines is an example, because ultimately if you don’t give them that power to differentiate that quality of service, you don’t allow for more investments in your sector, you’re not going to get the quality of networks you need, and then it’s going to be bad for the consumer. So I think you need to take a long view on net neutrality.” Rajeev Suri, CEO of Nokia (Mar. 1, 2015) http://bit.ly/1G9ROUr