Apple to FCC: Here's Why Repealing Net Neutrality Is a Bad Idea

The iPhone maker gives the FCC advice on how to craft rules that govern broadband service.

Author:: Chris Nolter
Publish date:: Sep 1, 2017 10:10 AM EDT

Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Report gave FCC Chairman Ajit Pai a blueprint for net neutrality regulations in a recent filing with the agency.

The iPhone maker's comments on the FCC's proposed Internet regulations outline a handful of policy goals, from promoting consumer choice and prohibiting Internet fast lanes that prioritize certain traffic, to providing transparency about how broadband providers manage traffic and networks.

Chairman Pai wants to roll back regulations that the Obama administration put in place that classified broadband as a telecommunications service, which treats it as more like a utility rather than an information service, which would face much less oversight.

The FCC boss notes, and network operators argue, that increased regulation will limit investment in broadband networks. The Internet was treated as an information service from the Clinton administration to 2015, during the rise of Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL) - Get Report Google, Facebook Inc. (FB) - Get Report , Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) - Get Report and Netflix Inc. (NFLX) - Get Report , Pai has argued. As part of the FCC's review of internet regulations, Pai has asked whether the FCC needs rules that prohibit blocking or throttling traffic, or providing Internet fast lanes.

Apple, Amazon, Netflix and others that have built huge businesses under the lighter regulatory regime have come out against Pai's proposals, arguing that the government's policies should ensure an open Internet with prohibitions against broadband providers throttling, blocking or prioritizing some traffic.

Playing up a track record in innovative devices that goes back to the Macintosh in 1984, Apple said that its ecosystem of devices, operating systems, apps and online stores requires "fair and open access to broadband services."

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"Our deep respect for our customers' security, privacy, and control over personal information extends to our customers' broadband connectivity choices," the filing states. "We work hard to build great products, and what consumers do with those tools is up to them-not Apple, and not broadband providers."

Though Apple made its filing during the window for replies to comments from other parties, the document is really an outline for how the company thinks the government should oversee the Internet. Apple provided five "key policy principles" for the FCC.

First is consumer choice. "Consumers must be allowed to access the lawful internet content,
applications, and services of their choice, using non-harmful devices of their choice (subject, of
course, to reasonable network management)," Apple stated.

The FCC should also prohibit Internet fast lanes, the company suggested, citing the risks of allowing broadband providers to prioritize some traffic. "Worst of all, it could allow a broadband provider, not the consumer, to pick internet winners and losers, based on a broadband provider's priorities rather than the quality of the service," the filing states.

Third, internet service providers should have to be transparent about how they manage traffic and their networks, so that consumers can make informed choices about purchasing broadband service, and app makers and others can effectively deliver services online.

Fourth, Apple argues for competition among broadband providers, noting that 57% of Americans with high-speed broadband have only one provider in their market. "Absent a meaningful choice of providers, consumers cannot make their voices heard through their market choices," Apple wrote.

Lastly, Apple says that the FCC should promote a "virtuous circle" of investment and innovation. "Today, innovators -- big and small -- develop new online services and applications premised on the assumption that they will be able to reach consumers without encountering interference or needing permission from a broadband provider," Apple stated. Consumer use of apps and services drives demand for broadband services, which ISPs meet by investing in their networks.

"Simply put, the internet is too important to consumers and too essential to innovation to be left unprotected and uncertain," Apple stated.

The FCC has not said when it will put forward final rules for broadband service providers. Despite entreaties from Apple and other titans of Silicon Valley, the reality is that Pai has the votes at the FCC to pass his rules.