AT&T CEO Bemoans Rise of State Net Neutrality Laws
Nov 14, 2018, 9:12 AM by Eric M. Zeman
Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T, wants Congress to prevent states from enacting their own net neutrality and privacy laws. "There are a number of states that are now passing their own legislation around privacy and, by the way, net neutrality." Stephenson made the comments in a video interview with the Wall Street Journal. "What would be a total disaster for the technology and innovation you see happening in Silicon Valley and elsewhere is to pick our head up and have 50 different sets of rules for companies trying to operate in the United States," said Stephenson. The Obama-era FCC created a national net neutrality policy that was later torn down by Trump's republican-led FCC. In the wake of that action, individual states have promised to create their own legislation to protect net neutrality. California was among the first to approve such legislation, though it won't put its new laws into effect until litigation against the FCC works its way through the courts. Stephenson believes Congress should act to keep the states from creating a patchwork of rules that could tangle AT&T and other internet providers in a sticky web of compliance. Stephenson does agree with one core tenet of net neutrality: "There should be no blocking," he said, and ISPs "should not be allowed to throttle somebody else's content." He said nothing about paid prioritization or zero-rating.
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