News
Jeffery Eisenach testified against U.S. regulator’s Open Internet rules, while Mark Jamison has questioned the need for the FCC altogether.
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump this week appointed two staunch opponents of net neutrality to lead the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) transition to the incoming government.
Trump has made no secret of his desire to deregulate, and he has found two like-minded individuals in Jeffery Eisenach and Mark Jamison.
Eisenach is currently employed by NERA Economic Consulting, where he co-chairs the company’s communications, media and Internet practice.
He has also consulted on behalf of Verizon, and in 2014, he testified against the FCC’s net neutrality rules, describing it as an effort by Internet companies to enrich themselves by using the law to obtain free services from telcos. He argued that existing antitrust rules and consumer protection laws are strong enough to stop big broadband providers from distorting the market.
Mark Jamison meanwhile is director of the public utility research centre at the Warrington College of Business, which is part of the University of Florida.
Like Eisenach, Jamison has consulted for telcos, including Sprint, and has also lobbied against net neutrality rules, describing them in a blog post published in June as "a growing miscellany of ex ante regulations that frequently work against the entrepreneurs and consumers the rules are intended to help."
In a more recent posting, Jamison questioned the need for the FCC altogether, arguing that while an independent agency is required in order to licence spectrum, the rest of the regulator’s responsibilities can be carved up between other agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Adopted in February, the Open Internet Order reclassified broadband as a telecommunication service rather than an information service, subjecting it to regulation under Title II of the Communications Act. It prevents broadband providers from blocking access to legal content, applications, and services. ‘Non-harmful’ devices must also not be prevented from connecting to networks.
Broadband providers are also banned from degrading the performance of Internet services on the basis of content, application or service. Paid prioritisation is also not allowed; however, the rules do permit service providers to carry out reasonable traffic management to ensure their networks run smoothly.
"Both [Eisenach and Jamison] have deep financial ties to the telecom industry. They’ve spent time at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where so-called scholars do double-time as corporate lobbyists and consultants, rarely disclosing their conflicts of interest," said Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy at consumer advocacy group Free Press, in a blog post on Wednesday.
"Trump’s tech-policy agenda is pretty much a blank slate — meaning these two industry operatives will have free rein to set the terms," he added.
