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03/07/2018
NCTA's Powell: Net Neutrality Debate Is Increasingly Irrelevant
Michael Powell, president of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, told the crowd at a Cable Congress Dublin event in Ireland Tuesday (March 6) that the network neutrality debate sucks up money, resources and "mindshare," but is increasingly an irrelevant discussion.
What isn't irrelevant, he suggested, is for governments in the U.S. and abroad to start looking at tech companies/edge providers like Facebook, their size and power, and the harm they can do to mental health by keeping consumers chasing the dopamine rush of "likes" and "streaks" as a way to glue them to devices.
ISPs have been trying to get the government to start scrutinizing the edge, partly by including edge providers in any net neutrality rule legislation that might emerge. But this was arguably Powell's strongest rhetoric aimed at the edge providers that were considered by the previous Democratic FCC as part of the virtuous internet circle that ISPs threatened. He said they can't duck responsibility for fake news or sex trafficking or teen bullying and the other implications of their power and reach, and should no longer be treated with kid gloves by the government.
