HOW OBAMA MOVED ON NET NEUTRALITY WSJ’s Gau
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WSJ’s Gauthan Nagesh and Brody Mullins: “In November, the White House’s top economic adviser dropped by the [FCC] with a heads-up for the agency’s chairman, Tom Wheeler. President Barack Obama was ready to unveil his vision for regulating high-speed Internet traffic. The specifics came four days later in an announcement that blindsided officials at the FCC. Mr. Obama said the Internet should be overseen as a public utility, with the ‘strongest possible rules’ forcing broadband providers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. to treat all Internet traffic equally.
“The president’s words swept aside more than a decade of light-touch regulation of the Internet and months of work by Mr. Wheeler toward a compromise. On Wednesday, Mr. Wheeler lined up behind Mr. Obama … according to an op-ed by Mr. Wheeler in Wired. The prod from Mr. Obama came after an unusual, secretive effort inside the White House, led by two aides who built a case for the principle known as ‘net neutrality’ through dozens of meetings with online activists, Web startups and traditional telecommunications companies. … Executives who tried to go over the two aides’ heads, including by appealing directly to Valerie Jarrett, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, got nowhere.”
http://on.wsj.com/1zaStfr