President Obama declared Monday that the FCC needs the “strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality” in bold statement of support for consumer groups. He called on the agency to act aggressively in drafting new Internet rules.
In a statement and video, Obama urged the FCC to go well beyond rules that Chairman Tom Wheeler has first proposed. Obama suggested the FCC adopt rules requiring net neutrality for mobile as well as wired Internet connections and banning Internet service providers from employing paid prioritization to give favored content providers a faster lane to consumers’ computers.
In the biggest win for consumer groups, Obama called on the agency to take a legal path to accomplishing the task that offers the greatest certainty of withstanding legal challenge, a path certain to enrage Republicans.