CALinnovates Calls on Congress to Step Up and Establish Clear Guidelines for an Open Internet

SAN FRANCISCO, July 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In comments submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tech advocacy coalition CALinnovates called on Congress to stop regulatory uncertainty and preserve the Internet's open environment.

"Entrepreneurs and consumers deserve better than the petty ping-pong of regulatory uncertainty that's plagued the preservation of the open internet by the FCC," said Mike Montgomery, executive directory of CALinnovates. "Congress must step up and lead: let's see a bipartisan group of legislators do their job and draft consensus legislation that codifies clear, commonsense net neutrality principles into law once and for all."

Elaborating on its previous call for a congressional solution to this issue, CALinnovates points out that the likely-to-be-rolled-back Title II approach must be replaced with lasting legislation. In its comments, CALinnovates enumerated four principles to drive bipartisan legislation:

1. Offer a clear way forward
2. Ensure fair competition
3. Foster permissionless innovation
4. Maintain low capital entry barriers

"There's a rough consensus on the open internet; now's the moment for leaders from both parties to step up and ratify it," Montgomery commented. "CALinnovates has been a consistent, insistent and persistent voice forcing the conversation around a third-way approach to this intractable issue."

"Perhaps now that others are joining CALinnovates in the call for bipartisan legislation, the tech policy community can focus on results, not rhetoric."

ABOUT CALINNOVATES
CALinnovates is a non-partisan technology advocacy coalition of tech companies, founders, funders and nonprofits.

SOURCE CALinnovates