A leading leftist advocate of net neutrality now fears federal regulators are going too far in trying to control the Internet.
The
Electronic Frontier Foundation is warning that the Federal Communications Commission is bordering on "regulatory overreach" with a proposed "general conduct rule" included among measures to ensure what advocates call an "open Internet."
The foundation, which describes its mission as defending "civil liberties in the digital world," has been among the top advocates of the so-called "net neutrality" rules the FCC is expected to adopt today.
However, with its fear of the unintended consequences of the general conduct rule, the foundation now finds itself aligned with conservative groups, which criticize the foundation as left-wing advocates
funded by George Soros.
In a letter to the FCC, the foundation warned commissioners that they actually risk undermining consumers with the general conduct rule because the measure could allow the FCC to outlaw any practice that "harms" Internet users.
"A 'general conduct rule,' applied on a case-by-case basis with the only touchstone being whether a given practice 'harms' consumers … may lead to years of expensive litigation to determine the meaning of 'harm' (for those who can afford to engage in it). What is worse, it could be abused by a future Commission to target legitimate practices that offer significant benefits to the public . . . ," the foundation wrote in its letter.
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