O'Rielly Calls Wheeler Views on FCC Cybersecurity Authority 'Gibberish,' Section 1 'Abuse'

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly called Tom Wheeler's cybersecurity regulation views unhinged from the law. O'Rielly said he had ignored Wheeler's "musings, despite their inaccuracies and overall misguided perspectives," but felt compelled to call out the former chairman for "gibberish" he had "pontificated" (here) on the commission's lack of action on internet network security. "Wheeler's views reaffirm that he is unwilling to read the law and follow basic principles of statutory construction," O'Rielly blogged Wednesday. He said Wheeler is "abusing" Communications Act Section 1 (which explained the purposes for creating the FCC) by arguing it gives the commission direct "authority over all communications activity, especially cybersecurity." That reading would constitute a "massive" expansion of jurisdiction, giving the FCC "authority over 'communications by wire or radio' ... without bounds," O'Rielly said. He said the plain reading of Section 1 is as a preamble, offering a "policy statement, not actual authority." If the section gave the FCC direct authority, he said, it wouldn't need "ancillary authority" or the rest of the Act. O'Rielly said U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rulings support his view, including Comcast v. FCC (2010) on net neutrality. While respecting O'Rielly "as a patriot," Wheeler said Thursday the blog post "seems to be in keeping with Donald Trump's refusal to respond to Russia's attack on our system. Networks have always been attack vectors; that a new network has opened up a new means of attack is no surprise. What is surprising is that when our nation is under attack we decide to have law-school quibbles about language instead of stepping up and protecting the nation."