FCC Needs to Stop Regulating to Prevent Hypothetical Harms, O'Rielly Says
The best rule for regulation is the digital age is “less is more,” FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in a speech Tuesday to the International Institute of Communications’ International Regulators Forum in Brussels. On wireless and other issues, the FCC…
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needs to stop protecting against hypothetical harms, O’Rielly said. “The FCC has many ex ante rules comprised of technical rules and construction metrics for licensees,” he said. “These appropriately promote spectral efficiency, interference free services, deployment and certainty for our licensees. However, the FCC does maintain a considerable number of old rules that can, and should, be eliminated because of competition, especially as over the top services experience greater maturity.” O’Rielly cited the general conduct standard in the 2015 net neutrality order, calling it “a vague rule that empowered the Commission’s enforcement personnel to saunter around issuing penalties and stop orders against any practice or service it deems harmful to the Internet.” The FCC posted the remarks.