Zipcar Founder Says Wireless/Wired Broadband Distinction In FCC Regs Is 'Nonsense'

[Source: Broadcasting & Cable, by John Eggerton, March 9, 2011]

Says Congress should strengthen FCC's net neutrality rules, not try to invalidate them

Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar said Wednesday that the FCC's application of different rules to wireless and wired broadband was "nonsense," and that Congress should strengthen the FCC's network neutrality rules, not try to invalidate them.

That came in testimony Wednesday at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing on a resolution to block implementation of the rules.

Chase, who launched the Zipcar online ridesharing company, said the rules prevent telecommunications companies from discriminating against new applications like Zipcar.

But she also said the rules should have extended those protections deeper into the wireless space. The rules do apply transparency and no-site-blocking conditions on wireless.

"The idea that different rules should apply, and that my experience of the Internet would be different depending on whether I am sitting at my desk at home connected, or on a park bench accessing those pages wirelessly is nonsense," she told the subcommittee. "These arbitrary distinctions dramatically complicate life for innovators and entrepreneurs, who will now have to contend with two different Internets, one wireless and one wireline, in everything they do."

She said that rather than trying to block the rules, "if Congress wants to truly unlock the economic and job creating potential of the Internet and fully tap into the innovation potential of our country, it should do so by improving the FCC's rules in this regard, not by repealing them."

Chase's passion for the net neutrality issue appeared to be demonstrated by her willingness to fly in from Paris Wednesday for the hearing, then fly out for Berlin in the afternoon, a point made by both Democrats and Republicans on the committee.