Net Neutrality: Title II and the Way Forward
Date: May 26, 2022
Time: 3:00 PM ET – 6:00 PM ET
Where: Consumer Technology Association Innovation House
21 D St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003
Keynote:
- Nathan Simington, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
Speakers:
- Jonathan Cannon, Resident Fellow, Technology & Innovation, R Street Institute [Moderator]
- Evan Swarztrauber, Senior Advisor for Tech and Telecom Policy, Lincoln Network
- Rick Chessen, Senior Vice President of Law & Regulatory Policy, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association
- Stephanie Joyce, Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President, Computer & Communications Industry Association
- Cody Venzke, Senior Counsel, Equity in Civic Technology, Center for Democracy and Technology
The internet has always thrived under a mostly laissez-faire regulatory framework, but under President Barack Obama in 2015, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler enacted the Open Internet Order, which tried to change broadband classification by imposing common carrier internet regulations under the guise of net neutrality. However, in 2017, former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and the Commission voted to enact the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, effectively repealing Wheeler’s order and restoring the light-touch regulatory framework the FCC applied to internet regulation for the last two decades. With the pending confirmation of a fifth FCC Commissioner, it is increasingly likely that the FCC will once again consider Title II classification for broadband. What does that mean? What would a Title II order look like in 2022? Is net neutrality necessary? Is Title II the only path to net neutrality?
Please join R Street as we hear from Commissioner Simington and an expert panel to discuss these questions and more. A reception with refreshments will follow the panel.