Background: Today, Verizon and Google announced that they have reached a private agreement on a legislative proposal for Net Neutrality.

The following is attributed to Sherwin Siy, Deputy Legal Director of Public Knowledge:

“We have already expressed our alarm at the extraordinary loopholes present in Verizon and Google’s proposal. However, the proposal also damages open Internet efforts through commission as well as omission. The section on “case-by-case enforcement” directs the FCC to defer to rules set by industry-led advisory groups. Combined with the proposal’s recommendation that the FCC have no rulemaking authority with respect to consumer protection and nondiscrimination, the agreement outsources the FCC’s powers and authorities to the very industries these rules are supposed to oversee.”

Public Knowledge is a Washington D.C.- based public interest group working to defend consumer rights in the emerging digital culture. More information is available at http://www.publicknowledge.org

Contact: Sherwin Siy
            Mehan Jayasuriya
            202-861-0020
            ssiy@publicknowledge.org
            mehan@publicknowledge.org