Internet Freedom Coalition Opposes FCC Regulation of Internet

Free-Market Advocates Argue Regulations Are Unnecessary, Harmful, and Unauthorized

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Massive government intrusion into the free and open operation of the Internet by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not only unnecessary, but would almost certainly harm this monument to entrepreneurship and freedom," according to Internet Freedom Coalition Chairman Phil Kerpen.

The Internet Freedom Coalition (IFC) is an ad hoc coalition of organizations and individuals committed to the continued growth and improvement of the Internet, who believe regulations and taxes are harmful to those ends.  The Internet Freedom Coalition believes that a free and open Internet is beneficial to society, but argues that regulatory intervention in the well-functioning marketplace that has thus far produced a vast, free and open network would unnecessarily limit the current and future supply of bandwidth, and would harm both producers and consumers.

The comments on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Matter of Preserving the open Internet Broadband Industry Practices, argue that:

• The current unregulated environment has fostered enormous grow in bandwidth, competition, adoption, and the free use of rapidly emerging applications.
• The Commission has not provided any evidence of a market failure or pattern of abuses.
• Even well-meaning regulations to enforce a policy of "non-discrimination" risks harming reasonable network management efforts which are a clearly beneficial.  
• It remains a question whether the FCC has legal authority to promulgate network neutrality rules, and even if it did, the Justice Department and the FTC are better suited to make judgments as to anti-competitive behavior.

The comments conclude that "Unless and until the Commission determines both that a significant problem exists, and also that the Commission is more qualified to deal with that problem than are the existing antitrust authorities -- which unlike the Commission, have clear congressional authority -- the Commission should defer to those existing authorities."

Signatories on the Internet Freedom Coalition include:

Phil Kerpen

Chairman, Internet Freedom Coalition

Vice President for Policy, Americans for Prosperity

Tim Phillips

President

Americans for Prosperity

Andrew Langer

President

Institute for Liberty

Pete Sepp

Vice President for Policy & Communications

National Taxpayers Union

Hance Haney

Director & Senior Fellow

Technology & Democracy Project

Discovery Institute

Jeffrey Mazzella

President

Center for Individual Freedom

Grover Norquist

President

Americans for Tax Reform

Chris Butler

Executive Director

Media Freedom Project

Karri Bragg

Executive Vice President

Citizen Outreach

Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.

VP for Policy, Director of Technology Studies

Competitive Enterprise Institute

Don Racheter

President

Public Interest Institute (Iowa)

James G. Lakely

Co-director, Center on the Digital Economy

The Heartland Institute

Susan Gore

Founder

Wyoming Liberty Group

Tom Schatz

President

Citizens Against Government Waste

David A. Keene

Chairman

American Conservative Union

Bartlett D Cleland

Director, Center for Technology Freedom

Institute for Policy Innovation

Jim Martin

Chairman

60 Plus Association

Andrew F. Quinlan

President

Center for Freedom and Prosperity

Barrett E. Kidner

Chairman & CEO

Caesar Rodney Institute

SOURCE Internet Freedom Coalition

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