GOP: The FCC’s inspector general has launched an investigation into net neutrality

[mahatmakanejeeves]

GOP: The FCC’s inspector general has launched an investigation into net neutrality

The Switch

By Brian Fung March 17 at 1:30 PM
@b_fung

The Federal Communications Commission's internal watchdog has opened an investigation into the agency's effort to draw up aggressive new rules for Internet providers, according to a top Republican lawmaker.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah), who heads the House Oversight Committee, said Tuesday that the FCC Inspector General had launched an investigation "in the last couple days." ... "I didn't know about it 'til I walked up here," Chaffetz told reporters Tuesday.

The probe, said Chaffetz, will focus on the FCC's rulemaking process leading up to the agency's recent, historic vote to apply strict rules on Internet providers. Republicans have accused the FCC of improperly collaborating with the White House on the so-called "net neutrality" rules, which ban providers of high-speed Internet access such as Verizon and Time Warner Cable from blocking Web sites they don’t like or auctioning off faster traffic speeds to the highest bidders.

Responding to questions from Chaffetz and the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he was not aware of an investigation by David Hunt, the FCC inspector general. But, Wheeler said, he would "of course" cooperate with any investigation.

and

Read the e-mails that Republicans say show Obama meddled in net neutrality

The Switch

By Brian Fung March 17
@b_fung

House Republicans are putting the head of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, through the wringer this week over his agency's recent vote to apply strong new regulations on Internet providers. The GOP’s chief criticism these days is that Wheeler and his staff improperly coordinated with the White House over how to write those regulations.

Wheeler has pushed back against the allegations. In a face-off with House Republicans Tuesday, the chairman argued that his discussions with the Obama administration have covered a wide range of issues, from cybersecurity to trade. He also argued that it is not unusual for a president to make his opinions known, and that there were no "secret instructions" from the White House on net neutrality.

"I think the insinuation from my friends on the other side is there's something sinister here [about those discussions] … to tailor the rules," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).

But GOP lawmakers led by Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, are releasing previously redacted e-mails between FCC officials and members of the White House staff, lobbyists and others in an attempt to show evidence of undue influence. ... One of the first e-mails released by the committee refers to a meeting that White House economic adviser Jeff Zients had with Wheeler on Nov. 6. In the e-mail, a top lobbyist for AT&T suggested that the meeting made it appear that the agency was not as independent as it claimed.

and

GOP says Obama aides meddled in ‘net neutrality’

Tech

By Associated Press March 17 at 5:04 PM

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans on Tuesday accused the Federal Communications Commission of bowing to White House pressure on its “net neutrality” decision, which has angered the nation’s cable and wireless giants. They said the agency’s inspector general has opened an investigation into whether the FCC had violated any rules.

Samples of 1,600 pages of emails and other documents released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — while falling short of any blatant impropriety — raise questions about whether senior Obama aides went to unusual lengths to engage independent regulators on a popular issue, and if the FCC gave these aides too much access to internal deliberations while shutting out Congress.

“A president should be able to weigh in, make his opinions known. I don’t have a problem with that. But this seems to be very one-sided,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Still, the political sparring on Capitol Hill was unlikely to affect the recent decision by the FCC to impose tough new regulations on Internet service providers.

[tridim]

1. They are fully behind the wrong side of history.

They want everything you have, including the Internet bandwidth you pay for to be much worse.

Yet people (apparently) still vote for them for some reason.

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. GOP says, Obama's decision to refuse to say Mother Boehner may I

kiss the boehner of the nations cable and wireless giants and surrender unto them what is fucking Ceaser's brought undue influence by 300 million Americans into the decision.

[Scuba]

3. GOP intent on silencing dissent, sees net neutrality as barrier to that goal.

It's the same reason they're trying to kill all the unions.