TPA Reacts to FCC Votes on Net Neutrality and Government Broadband

National Taxpayer Group Slams FCC for Net Neutrality and Municipal Broadband Vote

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), a national taxpayer watchdog group representing concerned citizens all across the country, was disappointed and shocked by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) vote to reclassify Broadband Internet service under Title II regulation.

The FCC also decided to let municipal broadband projects like Chattanooga EPB expand beyond their borders.   EPB has been the poster child for government waste and overreach.  TPA submitted extensive comments to the FCC in September of 2014 as to why Chattanooga EPB has been a failure and how they used intimidation tactics to thwart transparency (see full comments here).

This overly aggressive regulatory approach is completely unnecessary and undermines the very foundation the Internet has been built on since its conception over 20 years ago.

Title II reclassification threatens to suppress innovation and commerce, while harming taxpayers and consumers.

The FCC choosing to reclassify the Internet under Title II will create an environment that could lead to new taxes for consumers and businesses in the already heavily taxed telecommunications marketplace.  This would prove disastrous for the economy.

For more than two decades the Internet has flourished under the bipartisan, light touch regulatory approach that has promoted unprecedented investment and innovation in broadband, which has led to the Internet that consumers revel in today.

Today the FCC made the choice to change the strong platform the Internet has been built upon in exchange for a 332-page open-ended policy that will undoubtedly have a negative impact on consumers, our economy, as well as the future of the Internet.

The FCC adopting such a policy change was not only misguided and unnecessary but also constitutionally not their decision to make. A policy change with such far-reaching implications as reclassification of the Internet as a utility should be done with full transparency by our elected officials.

TPA opposes the decision made today by the FCC and will continue to stay devoted to Internet policy that benefits taxpayers, consumers, our economy, and the future of the Internet.