US ‘net neutrality’ plan faces resistance from venture capitalists

By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pressure mounted on the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to delay or abandon a plan to relax internet traffic rules, with more than 50 high-profile venture capitalists and another FCC member recently joining them. Prominent investors, including Ron Conway of SV Angel, Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz, John Lilly of Greylock Partners, Jason Mendelson of Foundry Group and dozens of other VCs, wrote a joint letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, himself a former private equity investor, sharing their concerns about proposed new “open internet” rules. “If established companies are able to pay for better access speeds or lower latency, the Internet will no longer provide a level playing field,” they said in a letter published Thursday. Wheeler has come under fire for proposing rules that would allow content companies to pay broadband providers for faster internet speeds to provide traffic, as long as the deals are deemed “commercially reasonable.” Ajit Pai, a senior Republican commissioner on the five-member FCC, expressed “serious concerns” about the plan on Thursday and joined his Democratic colleague Jessica Rosenworcel in calling for a delay to the May 15 vote. (ID:nL2N0NT2KL) However, the FCC published its final agenda, which included “open internet” principles, indicating that a vote was still expected. The FCC also decided to allow interested parties and consumers to contact agency staff to provide feedback until then. Although Wheeler said he would use all necessary tools to prevent or punish ISPs that may “degrade service for all to the benefit of a few,” his proposal sparked outrage. Thousands of comments are pouring into agency inboxes and flooding phone lines. More than 100 technology companies, including internet giants Google Inc, Facebook Inc, Twitter Inc and Amazon.com Inc, wrote to Wheeler on Wednesday, warning that his proposal poses a “serious threat to the Internet.” More than 100 advocacy organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Writers Guild of America East, joined in a letter to Wheeler and U.S. President Barack Obama: “ISPs should not be in the business of picking winners and losers on the Internet. However, the proposal , which the FCC is currently considering, gives ISPs exactly that power and therefore should be abandoned,” the groups said. Consumer advocates have long called on the FCC to reclassify internet service providers as more heavily regulated public utilities, similar to telecommunications companies, which has been met with fierce opposition from Republican lawmakers and broadband companies. Groups are planning online and in-person rallies for May 15 under the slogan “Save the Internet,” and one of them, the public interest group Free Press, launched a website Thursday where people can call the FCC and lawmakers or send them messages on social media . media. Several protesters have already set up camp outside the FCC headquarters and have pledged to stay until May 15. (Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Ros Krasny and Chizu Nomiyama)