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Earlier this week, myself and other scholars sent a letter to Congress opposing use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIF Order) adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. We support an Internet that is open and free, and a regulatory environment that encourages investment and innovation while ensuring consumer protection is paramount. The RIF Order meets these objectives, while refraining from applying 20th century utility regulation to the Internet.
Using the CRA to repeal the RIF Order would mean a return to Title II utility regulation governing the Internet. It would inject regulatory uncertainty into the Internet ecosystem, and in turn, result in decreased innovation and investment. Ultimately Title II is a path to more big government and a loss of American leadership.
We support a free and open Internet and we oppose utility regulation of the most dynamic communications platform the world has ever seen. For these reasons, we encourage Congress to oppose the adoption of a CRA resolution to overturn the RIF Order.
A full version of our letter is available here:
https://fedsoc-cms-public.s3.amazonaws.com/Blog/Scholars%20Net%20Neutrality%20Letter.pdf
