Michael Copps to Join Net Neutrality Rally Outside FCC

Former FCC chairman Mike Copps plans to attend and speak at a net neutrality rally outside the FCC's headquarters Thursday.

The FCC is scheduled to vote May 18 on Republican chairman Ajit Pai's proposal to roll back Title II regs and rethink the rules against throttling, blocking and paid prioritization.

Copps is now a special advisor to Common Cause and, in that capacity, has been a big defender of Title II reclassification and the 2015 Open Internet order adopted by Pai's predecessor, Democratic chairman Tom Wheeler.

“By re-opening the FCC’s historic 2015 Open Internet Order, the FCC is jeopardizing core protections for online free speech and competition," Copps said last month after Pai outlined his proposal in a speech. "Chairman Pai appears more interested in currying favor with cable and telecom industry lobbyists than in serving the millions of Americans who wrote and called to urge the commission, during the original rulemaking, to provide strong protections against online blocking, throttling, or censorship."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.