Now that the Federal Communications Commission’s legal framework for enforcing net neutrality regulations on American ISPs has fallen apart, one former FCC commissioner thinks it’s time for the nuclear option. As Ars Technica reports, one-time FCC commissioner Michael Copps thinks that the FCC should move to reclassify ISPs as common carriers, a move that would set off a massive public relations fight between the FCC and the cable and telecom industries.
It’s time for the Federal Communications Commission to correct its past mistakes and get tough on broadband providers, a retired FCC commissioner says. Michael Copps, an FCC commissioner from 2001 to 2011 (and acting chairman for several months in 2009), is proof that not every former FCC member becomes a lobbyist for the industries the commission regulates. The only commission member to vote against allowing the Comcast/NBC Universal merger, Copps is now a self-described public interest advocate who leads the Media and Democracy Reform Initiative at Common Cause.