At the FCC, Empiricism Gives Way to Politics in Net Neutrality Order

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”

-René Descartes

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed a set of rules designed to protect an open Internet. But its inquiry was far from complete. Lacking throughout the record was an empirical, data-driven analysis of what net neutrality actually means to people of color—especially African-Americans and Latinos. This matter is destined to end up in the judicial system. Pitted against each other are ISPs and content providers who have begun to wield considerable market power. These two debates are often cloaked in the veil of being about progressives on the one hand, who purportedly seek to preserve democracy, and free market capitalists on the other who, ever since slavery, have sought to prioritize profits above all else.

So who’s right? Who knows! But what this debate has never been about is the American people. It has been a battle of egos. Despite the volumes of attention given to this debate, we have arrived at no single conclusion as to whether a deregulatory framework or a regulatory framework, similar to the one proposed by the Commission today, is the best approach to preserve democracy while, at the same time, promoting innovation and competition.

Chairman Genachowski has a particular affinity for invoking the metaphor of innovation happening in “dorm rooms and garages” as the reason why he endorses today’s order. But is it possible that innovation can happen in places other than the suburbs and a handful of elite college campuses around the country? Many of the same people who advocate for the Internet as “the great equalizer” seem to be the most presumptuous when it comes to defining the archetype of the American innovator (suburbanite, flip flops, ivy league, etc.). Meanwhile, we see sparse genuine attention paid to broadband adoption in low income areas, which can serve to drive creativity and entrepreneurship in communities from which not much has been expected.

Despite the numerous accolades bestowed upon those at the Commission who “worked so hard” to devise this middle-ground solution, the Commission still lacks perspective. The Commission has kicked the media ownership diversity can down the road, while the diversity within its own ranks is dismal to say the least.

Republicans will take control of the House of Representative in a few days. The Presidential election is less than two years away. How can the Commission arrive at a well-informed solution with the constraints imposed upon it by the political calendar? The empiricism Descartes articulated, which has led to so many scientific breakthroughs, including the Internet, has apparently given way to political expediency when it comes to policy. How sad.