INCOMPAS was calling on FCC chairman Ajit Pai to pull the plug on the Dec. 14 net neutrality rule rollback vote after Politico reported that the FCC's CTO had issues with it.
INCOMPAS members include Amazon, Google, Twitter and Facebook.
According to the story, CTO Eric Burger said allowing ISPs to block certain Web sites, as the rule rollback would allow so long as ISPs disclosed it and the Federal Trade Commission did not conclude it was anticompetitive, was not in the public interest.
ISP members of NCTA-The Internet and Television Association, USTelecom and CTIA, which is the vast majority of access providers, have all pledged not to block or throttle content, pledges that the FTC could enforce. But outliers who wanted to block or throttle could do so subject to FTC, and Justice Department, scrutiny.
Related: INCOMPAS to FCC: Interconnections Need Government Minding
“The discussion is a normal part of the process with meeting items," Burger said in a statement e-mailed to B&C. "After I reviewed the relevant sections, I am satisfied the order addressed my question and we also added clarifying language to make the issue clear. I fully support the item.”
An FCC source said that one or more commissioner offices leaked the memo, which the source described as the usual deliberations and revisions on an item.
INCOMPAS was not assuaged. "INCOMPAS, [which] raised the very same, exact concerns in a letter to the FCC, is asking the FCC to delay the vote and release the redline changes to the Order for the public to see," the group said.
