The fate of final disinterest has never looked bleaker , with the FCC ’s advise ruler basically tear down the liberal and open internet that we have a go at it today . you’re able to thank the agency ’s notorious revolving doorway for that ; for age , FCC officials and the citizenry they ’re supposed to be regulating have been play a horrible game of telecommunication musical hot seat .
https://gizmodo.com/the-fcc-thinks-were-all-idiots-1577638316
In fact , harmonise to OpenSecrets.org , 18 diligence drawing card have both lobby on behalf of Comcast and drop prison term in the public sphere . Of those , 12 are currently registered as lobbyist for the anti - last - disinterest line giant , five of whom have served tour with the FCC itself . And that ’s just Comcast .
Of the 465 registered telecom lobbyist , almost 75 percent have gone through the government ’s revolving door . All that becomes a Brobdingnagian trouble when you consider that these well - funded political mercenaries are basically schmoozing up their former colleagues on behalf ofnet neutrality ’s biggest enemies .
What ’s more troubling , though , is that it ’s not just the bottom - feeders who have mixed trueness . Some of the highest ranking appointed officials at the FCC have mysterious , vested interests in the very same companies they ’re supposed to be regulating .
These are some of the worst offender in the big , incestuous orgy that is the FCC - telecommunication revolving door . If and when net disinterest pall , they ’ll be the ones scrubbing the blood off their hand . You might require to rip a trash can over — because you ’re about to be unbalanced .
Tom Wheeler (FCC Chairman)
The biggest wrongdoer of regulative incest on today ’s FCC , Tom Wheeler is no alien to telecommunication . Before being confirm as FCC Chairman just under seven month ago , Wheeler was the proud chairwoman of theCellular Telecom and Internet Association(CTIA ) , otherwise know as the swelled lobbying arm of the wireless industriousness . And before that , Wheeler headed up theNational Cable and Telecom Association(NCTA ) , which is just as boastful asCTIAand might as well bea subsidiary of Comcast itself .
In between these various stint as face and voice of the wireless carrier , cable companies , and ISPs , Wheeler spent his metre as a venture capitalist , investing mostly in companiesoffering — guess what?—cable , radio receiver , and video communications services . You recognize , the kind of companies that stand to profit from last neutrality ’s demise .
As theSunlight Foundationso compactly puts it , “ Wheeler had bring nearly every position in the telecom industry by the time he was nominated to Chair the office . ” And would n’t you know it , while driving the telecom industry ’s lobbying tactics , Wheeler also managed to produce over $ 1 million dollars for Obama from 2008 - 2012 — right before Obama impart him the in demand chairmanship .
Michael Powell (NCTAPresident)
Before Wheeler train office ( and while he was still sitting pretty at the top of the telecommunication lobbying tower ) , Powell was enjoy Wheeler ’s current title of FCC Chairman . Once his five - class term was up , Powell made his way over to theNCTAto take on the role of CEO , which Wheeler had so kindly been keep warm for him . That ’s right ; the person lobbying hardest to ruin final disinterest and the someone in charge of decide its portion very recently trade jobs .
If Wheeler is a bee in last neutrality ’s bonnet , Powell is a hornet ’s nest . In 2002 , early in his full term as Chair , Powell was the one to really categorize the cyberspace as an entropy service — the same classification that even allow for nett neutrality to fall into head in the first office . Oras Powell litotically put itduring a late keynote speech at theNCTAannual meeting , “ a light regulatory touch . ” So as you’re able to imagine , now that he ’s no longer under the guise of government leadership , the current head of the cable pressure group is doing everything in his power to take down the net as we have sex it . All he has to do is dial his old phone number .
Meredith Attwell Baker (IncomingCTIAPresident)
By now it should fare as no surprise , but Baker has been around the engine block — a lot . Even prior to playing the role of FCC commissioner from 2009 - 2011 , Baker already had a tendency to stray on the side of industry . In 2011 , she fought for and voted in favor of Comcast ’s ( ultimately approved ) pruchase of NBC Universal . At which point she reduce her commissioner terminal figure short to accept a chore as Vice President of Government Affairs for Comcast - NBC Universal .
So while it may have been a comparatively disgusting display of have her hands in the cable television diligence ’s coffers , Baker’sdecision to give up ship(in commutation ? ) for a cushy , high paying , lobbying position is n’t all that surprising . And though a move like this might seem like it could n’t mayhap be legal , you ’d be incorrect ! Baker istechnically forbiddenfrom lobbying the FCC for the two years following her hire . She can , however , buttonhole the House and Senate on behalf of Comcasat . Which she ’s done — for 21 different bill . And what ’s more , most of this statute law has dealt straight with deregulating the internet . Fantastic .
Daniel Alvarez (Legal Advisor to FCC Chair)
presently serving as effectual adviser to Wheeler , Daniel Alvarez antecedently bring at the jurisprudence house Willkie Farr & Gallagher , LLP . where he was a proud representative of — yep — none other than Comcast . But in 2010 , before Alvarez ever got constitute , he get off a letter to the FCC on behalf of Comcast thatforcefully argued for the demise of net neutrality , saying :
The Commission should not adopt an absolute proscription on ‘ favouritism . ’ Many commenters [ on FCC policy ] recognize that an downright ban on favoritism would prohibit ‘ socially good discrimination ’ and asphyxiate innovation and investment .
Which is n’t exactly encouraging in terms of a fair net futurity — especially deliberate the telecommunication - embedded company that FCC officials tend to keep .
Phillip Verveer (Senior Counselor to FCC Chair)
Verveer was announce as Wheeler ’s senior counselling just sidereal day after Wheeler took agency this past November . Before taking on this extremely influential role , Verveer ( like Alvarez ) also worked at Willkie Farr & Gallagher when it was Comcast’sprincipal regulative counselor . And harmonise to theNational Law Journal , he ’s been ask with the cell phone industry in some capability since its inception .
In the past few years , Verveer has also been hold back by two manufacture groups actively working to impede final neutrality . Which industry groups ? You guessed it — theCTIAandNCTA . Just like Papa Wheeler himself .
So if you ’re wonder whether net neutrality will get a fair ruling from the agency that ’s suppose to protect it , do n’t bother . Because the evaluator used to be the executioners , and they will be again just as soon as their terms run out .
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