A group of prominent Boston tech CEOs has a message for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai: Do not roll back net neutrality rules, or else the American economy at large would suffer.
The CEOs of Carbonite, TripAdvisor, iRobot and Data Intensity sent that message loud and clear in a press conference on Friday with U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and New England Venture Capital Association Executive Director Jody Rose.
Pai, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in January, has signaled his intention to dismantle aspects of the FCC's net neutrality rules that require broadband providers to maintain equal access to internet content for all consumers. The FCC chairman has begun meeting with large tech companies to hear their concerns and said they have found "common ground," The New York Times reported. But while he agrees with the broad principles of net neutrality, he has said the FCC's rules are too restrictive for broadband providers.
Net neutrality advocates fear if net neutrality rules are rolled back, it would give large broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon the ability to speed up their own services to the detriment of competitors. For example, Carbonite CEO Mohamad Ali said one of the broadband providers has built its own solution that competes with his company's data backup services.
"They actually have a capability that is far inferior, but if they're able to then give preferential speed to their customers over ours, that damages our company, that damages our job creation," Ali said.
"This isn't any longer a technology industry question."
The implications of winding back net neutrality would extend far beyond consumer services like Netflix, whose service could be throttled in the absence of such rules, Kirk Arnold, CEO of Data Intensity said. Industries that could be impacted include manufacturing, consumer goods and any other industry that relies on high-speed internet to use cloud services.
"This is a ubiquitous competitive issue," Arnold said. "This isn't any longer a technology industry question. Net neutrality is a manufacturing question, it's a consumer goods question ... and the impact on jobs is significant across all these sectors."
Another sector that would be impacted is robotics, but iRobot CEO Colin Angle said safeguarding net neutrality rules is much more than about protecting his own company. It's about giving the U.S. a competitive advantage in the global economy.
"If we start stratifying access to connectivity, we disadvantage American entrepreneurs in a global competitive race for the economy of the future," Angle said. "... It's short-term thinking for the nation because we are in a global economy, and it is a mistake to kneecap our entrepreneurs."
