Former FCC Technologist Makes Technical Defense of Net Neutrality Rules

Scott Jordan, FCC chief technologist when the commission approved the 2015 net neutrality rules, defended the latest version in an amicus brief filed Tuesday at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in docket 24-7000. Petitioners “consistently conflate” three different kinds of internet access service -- dial-up, cable modem and broadband, Jordan said: “Petitioners use this conflation as the basis for their assertions that all forms of Internet access service were classified as information services prior to 2015. These assertions are incorrect as a matter of fact.” Now a computer science professor at the University of California, Irvine, Jordan was an advocate of the 2023 rules (see 2404160055). Capabilities listed in the definition of information service aren't offered by broadband internet access service, Jordan said. “They are offered by applications (information services) that utilize broadband Internet access service to transmit and receive data.” Jordan drew a comparison with the era when Netflix offered movies on DVD, sent through the mail. “Petitioners’ analogies would have the Court believe that not only was Netflix an information service, but that the US Postal Service was also an information service, and that the US Postal Service offered movies ‘in conjunction with’ Netflix.”