Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said on Wednesday that recently proposed network neutrality regulations would discourage innovation, hurt competition and lead to lost jobs if enacted by the FCC.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently announced that the commission would pursue Internet network neutrality regulations.
“Instead we should be working with industry to encourage more innovation and job creation in the virtual space,” Blackburn said. “This administration needs to stop mimicking some of the most restrictive policies of countries like China. Federal control of the Internet will restrict our online freedom and leave Americans facing the same horrors that they have experienced with healthcare.gov….”
Blackburn said she intends to introduce legislation that would block network neutrality regulations and protect consumers’ Internet freedom.
Wheeler said he would pursue regulations that would require Internet service provides to disclose how they manage traffic, prohibit companies from blocking Internet traffic and implement non-discrimination measures.
“Preserving the Internet as an open platform for innovation and expression while providing certainty and predictability in the marketplace is an important responsibility of this agency,” Wheeler said.
The proposed regulations would also reclassify Internet as a telecommunications service rather than as an information service, which the FCC has limited power to regulate.
“The Internet is and must remain the greatest engine of free expression, innovation, economic growth and opportunity the world has ever known,” Wheeler said. “We must preserve and promote the Internet.”