There’s a plethora of pieces running in Capitol Hill publications either favoring or opposing the FCC’s planned rollback of the Net Neutrality rules. But what isn’t so obvious is how much money telecoms are spending to lobby the issue; Bloomberg takes a look.
Organizations that are pressing to overturn the rules include CTIA and the Internet & Television Association. Thomas M. Lenard, a senior fellow and president emeritus at the Technology Policy Institute, praised FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and defended ISPs in an April 28 opinion piece for The Hill. Lenard’s group states that its supporters include AT&T, Charter, Comcast, and NCTA. TPI received $1 million from NCTA from 2011-2014 and $22,500 from CTIA in 2011 and 2013, according to searches conducted via The Center for Public Integrity’s Nonprofit Network tool of available IRS filings.
Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) President Tom Giovanetti wrote an April 27 opinion piece for The Hill praising Pai. IPI received $135,000 between 2010 and 2014 from MyWireless.org (now ACTwireless), a project of CTIA, and $110,000 from NCTA from 2011-2014, writes Bloomberg.
National Taxpayers Union EVP Brandon Arnold wrote an April 26 Washington Examiner piece that criticized existing net neutrality rules. The National Taxpayers Union received $200,000 from CTIA from 2010-2014.
Jonathon Paul Hauenschild, director of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Task Force on Communications & Technology, wrote an April 28 piece for The Hill opposing the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules. ALEC received $85,000 from CTIA from 2010-2014 and $41,000 from NCTA in 2010 and 2011, writes Bloomberg.
May 3, 2017
Reader Interactions