California Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina Tuesday reaffirmed her opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s bid to exert regulatory influence over the broadband industry, attesting in a web video to the onerous and “antiquated” regulations imposed on the tech industry.
“Net neutrality, in principle, sounds fantastic,” Fiorina said in a ten-question online forum hosted by PDF. “But I grew up in the telcom industry, and I know how bureaucratic, and frankly antiquated, the regulations in the telcom industry have been.”
Fiorina, the former chief executive of tech giant Hewlett-Packard, warned the FCC against imposing a dated regulatory regime on industry that thrives on innovation.
“I don’t think we should take a regulator structure that was created in the early 20th century and apply it in the 21st century,” she said, adding, “I don’t support reclassifying broadband as telecom as a result.”
In the wake of House Democrats’ failure to adopt legislation on the matter, the FCC has renewed its interest in reclassifying broadband under a regulatory regime developed in the 1920’s for traditional telephone services, known as a Title II common carrier, ensuring the industry is within the agency’s regulatory reach.
Mrs. Fiorina’s opponent, Senator Barbara Boxer, also participated in the forum, and holds a decidedly different view: No regulation is bad regulation. “I strongly believe that we must preserve Net neutrality,” the 18-year incumbent says in her response.
Boxer had previously co-sponsored legislation to adopt Net neutrality rules. But like the majority of legislation the senator has championed, it was spiked by her colleagues.