The appointment of William (Bill) Daley as the White House Chief of Staff is raising eyebrows in the telecom industry. As commerce secretary under President Clinton from January 1997 to June 2000, Mr. Daley oversaw the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). He played a more direct role in the telecommunications industry when he was president of SBC Communications Inc. from December 2001 to May 2004. Mr. Daley worked at SBC before it acquired AT&T and took the smaller company's name.
Mr. Daley’s stint as commerce secretary was free of any major controversies. However, his stewardship of SBC made many in the telecommunications industry uncomfortable. In essence, he was seen as having moved from a cabinet position, where he represented the wider concerns of the U.S. government, to representing a vested corporate interest.
Mr. Daley assumes his position as President Obama's Chief of Staff while a battle is looming in Congress over net neutrality rules. Net neutrality is based on the concept that companies providing Internet service should treat all sources of data equally. Supporters of net neutrality contend that Internet providers cannot give preferential treatment to their own content or that of content providers for a fee, and that they cannot block or impede content that represents controversial points of view. The FCC favored keeping things that way, but its ability to do so was hampered by a federal appeals court decision in April 2010 that restricted its authority to regulate broadband providers.
In December 2010, the FCC passed a watered down “compromise” version of these regulations that, for the first time, allows for “reasonable” paid prioritization. Nevertheless, the rules ban outright blocking and “unreasonable discrimination” of Web sites or applications by fixed-line broadband providers.
President Obama, whose campaign commitment was to enforce net neutrality, supported the FCC decision. However, consumer groups blasted the new rules, calling them woefully inadequate. On the other hand, Republicans have rejected the regulations, maintaining that they represent an interventionist overreach on part of the FCC.
With Republicans in control of the House of Representative, a bill is on the anvil seeking to scrap the net neutrality rules. If the bill goes to the President’s desk, Mr. Obama will most likely veto it. However, consumer advocates are concerned that Mr. Daley may try to influence the president not to do so.
Information Consulting believes that Mr. Daley does have corporate leanings, but he is unlikely to try to influence the President when it comes to net neutrality. Now that he is a part of the President's team, Mr. Daley is more likely to support Mr. Obama's decisions and faithfully follow the President's agenda.
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