Overturning Net Neutrality Leads Conservative Tech Goals in New Congress, Blackburn Says
The House will overturn the FCC’s net neutrality order “shortly” and will use the Congressional Review Act and a formal bill to do it, said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. She blamed Congress in her Tuesday keynote at the Congressional Internet Caucus’s State of the Net Conference for the FCC’s “first-ever” regulation of the Internet. Neither Democrats nor Republicans set forth a national vision for technology policy, and “when Congress fails to move on an issue, the bureaucracy steps in,” Blackburn said. Legislators are focused on individual advances in technology, “an obsession with devices, and focus on the larger values driving innovation -- a free economy, protected property rights and free speech protections,” she said.
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Blackburn laid out a conservative approach toward technology policy for the 112th Congress. First, the “creative economy” will drive the nation’s economy and should not be hindered by taxes, regulation, or government meddling. “Conservatives must vigorously apply the principles of small government and resist the urge to put industrial-age regulations on entrepreneurs,” she said. Next, Congress must enforce intellectual property rights, domestically and globally, as strongly as material property rights. IP rights are the chief commodity behind the growth of the creative economy, she said. Blackburn said she supports a patent reform bill with strict enforcement procedures, a compromise on orphan works and a bill allowing law enforcement to take down rogue websites that steal intellectual property as IP priorities.
A Republican House member will introduce an online piracy bill similar to one last Congress by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., Blackburn predicted. Internet privacy is an IP issue too, she said. “Your privacy is your property.” The government’s role isn’t determining what is private but ensuring people know their information is tracked and giving them an easy way to opt out, she said. Blackburn wouldn’t commit to a “do-not-track” option for consumers. “Let’s see what it looks like,” she said.
Congress should protect the free marketplace of the Internet by overturning net neutrality rules immediately, Blackburn said. “The FCC thought they were pushing into a regulatory vacuum last month when they unveiled net neutrality rules, but what they met with was a congressional hurricane.” The commission’s “narrow-minded” net neutrality order is a response to a “hypothetical problem,” she said. It’s only the first draft of many regulations, and every revision creates uncertainty that kills investment, Blackburn said. Despite President Barack Obama’s public support for net neutrality, Blackburn said she’s “not so sure” he would veto a repeal.
The next step is for the House Commerce Committee to move “shortly” on an expression of disapproval on net neutrality based on the Congressional Review Act, Blackburn said. It will pass the House and Senate, she predicted. Congress then will pass HR-96, a bill Blackburn introduced removing FCC jurisdiction from the Internet, she predicted: After that, conservatives should apply their principles of less regulation to the broad arena of technology.