The FCC's proposed net neutrality order has friends in high places.
U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra said Wednesday that the proposal has the support of the administration.
"President Obama is strongly committed to net neutrality in order to keep an open Internet that fosters investment, innovation, consumer choice, and free speech. The announced action by FCC Chairman Genachowski, building on the work of Chairman Waxman's collaborative effort to craft legislation in this area, advances this important policy priority," he said.
Chairman Waxman is Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, who helped broker a legislative compromise similar to the chairman's proposal, but which failed to get the Republican support Waxman had said was crucial to the bill.
"We recognize that this announcement reflects a significant amount of effort on the part of numerous broadband providers, Internet applications developers, content providers, consumer groups, and others to finding a thoughtful and effective approach to this issue," said Chopra. "Today's announcement is an important step in preventing abuses and continuing to advance the Internet as an engine of productivity growth and innovation.
The President campaigned on a platform that included network neutrality and an Open Internet. The State Department has also made Internet openness a foreign policy goal, likening it to one of the Four Freedoms enumerated by President Franklin Roosevelt.
