Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., backs net...
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., backs net neutrality rules that ban “priority arrangements that harm consumers,” he told Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal in a letter dated Monday. Segal asked Reid if he would tell the FCC “to…
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reclassify Internet service providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934,” as Reid recounted. “Let me assure you that I will lead the fight to protect any Open Internet Rules promulgated by the FCC against the inevitable Republican attack against such rules.” Reid referred to himself as a strong backer of such rules since 2006. Reid’s letter “takes away a crucial talking point that some folks have been saying that the Senate won’t defend Title II reclassification,” Nathan White, who is registered as the primary lobbyist for Demand Progress, told us, giving cover for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “to do the right thing. Secondly, Senator Reid writes that no matter what, there will be a fight over this in Congress. That removes another crucial talking point that [Communications Act Section] 706 is somehow the politically easy way out.” Marvin Ammori, a New America Foundation fellow and longtime net neutrality advocate, dubbed this letter a “game changer” and said Title II reclassification “is now politically feasible,” writing in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1s2TerC). Wheeler “has few reasons left for inaction,” White remarked. Segal told us Reid’s letter speaks to the different possible legal authorities the FCC could use to reinstate net neutrality rules, despite its lack of explicit references to such authorities. “This letter is meant to make it clear that Reid would back Title II if that’s where the FCC goes,” Segal said, saying the letter also casts doubt on the notion that basing rules on Section 706 is “politically easy.” The merits of the situation point to Title II reclassification, Segal said.