Robin
Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar said Wednesday that the FCC's
application of different rules to wireless and wired broadband was
"nonsense," and that Congress should strengthen the FCC's network
neutrality rules, not try to invalidate them.
That
came in testimony Wednesday at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on a
resolution to block implementation of the rules.
Chase,
who launched the Zipcar online ridesharing company, said the rules prevent
telecommunications companies from discriminating against new applications like
Zipcar.
But she
also said the rules should have extended those protections deeper into the
wireless space. The rules do apply transparency and no-site-blocking conditions
on wireless.
"The
idea that different rules should apply, and that my experience of the Internet
would be different depending on whether I am sitting at my desk at home
connected, or on a park bench accessing those pages wirelessly is
nonsense," she told the subcommittee. "These arbitrary distinctions
dramatically complicate life for innovators and entrepreneurs, who will now
have to contend with two different Internets, one wireless and one wireline, in
everything they do."
She said
that rather than trying to block the rules, "if Congress wants to truly
unlock the economic and job creating potential of the Internet and fully tap
into the innovation potential of our country, it should do so by improving the
FCC's rules in this regard, not by repealing them."
Chase's
passion for the net neutrality issue appeared to be demonstrated by her
willingness to fly in from Paris Wednesday for the hearing, then fly out for
Berlin in the afternoon, a point made by both Democrats and Republicans on the
committee.
