Fortune Features Wharton Prof’s Insight on Net Neutrality
Newly appointed Federal Communication Commission chairman Ajit Pai spoke last week at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., in which he fiercely criticized net neutrality rules. Pai expressed his opposition to the “ … heavy-handed regulations,” of the Title II classification, which prevents paid prioritization of bandwidth.
Pai’s goal of lifting the net neutrality regulations would give the nation’s largest Internet service providers (all of whom have expressed support for Pai’s efforts) power over the internet, as they would have access to priority bandwidth.
Paid also went after Free Press, a nonprofit group supporting net neutrality rules, saying their “… overall goal is to ‘remove brick by brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles.’”
Fortune Magazine covered Pai’s speech, and featured the views of Kevin Werbach, a professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, who worked at the FCC during the Clinton administration. Werbach condemned Pai’s treatment of the Title II classification, and his attack of Free Press.
According to Werbach, “Pai is clearly trying to throw some red meat to the popular right-wing base in order to counter the broad popular support for open Internet protections.” Werbach went on to criticize Pai’s handling of the issue, saying, “He demonized one advocacy group to distract attention from the many entrepreneurs, economists, legal scholars and technologists who supported the FCC’s open Internet rules. That’s not the job for the head of an independent administrative agency.”
About the Author
Matthew Korman
Matthew Korman is a writer on MetroMBA. Since graduating from Rowan University with a degree in journalism and political science, Matthew has worked as a music industry writer and promoter, a data analyst, and with numerous academic institutions. His works have appeared in publications such as NPR and Sports Illustrated.
