NEWS News media Information 202 / 418-0500Fax-On-Demand   202 / 418-2830 TTY 202/418-2555Internet: http://www.fcc.govftp.fcc.gov
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D. C.  20554
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order
constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEWS MEDIA CONTACT
September 21, 2009 Brigid Calamis 202-418-2200
William Freedman 202-418-2400
JOINT STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONERS ROBERT M. McDOWELL AND 
MEREDITH A. BAKER ON CHAIRMAN GENACHOWSKI’S
SPEECH ON NET NEUTRALITY
We share Chairman Genachowski’s goal of ensuring a free and open Internet that maximizes 
opportunities for innovation and democracy. The Internet is among humankind’s most powerful 
inventions and has already helped to improve the human condition on a previously unimaginable 
scale. All of us should work together to nurture its growth and development.
We hope that all of the stakeholders affected by the Chairman’s proposed endeavor have 
sufficient time to investigate the facts thoroughly and deliberate openly before the Commission 
acts to codify more government involvement in the Internet space. Although we have not been 
given any draft or summary of proposed net neutrality rules, it is clear from the Chairman’s 
statements that they will be monumental in their scope. In the meantime, we are concerned that 
both factual and legal conclusions may have been drawn before the process has begun.
Nonetheless, we look forward to reviewing any and all compelling evidence that may be 
developed in the record that illustrates the palpable harms that many allege. We do not believe 
that the Commission should adopt regulations based merely on anecdotes, or in an effort to 
alleviate the political pressures of the day, if the facts do not clearly demonstrate that a problem 
needs to be remedied. 
At the outset, however, this dramatic proposal to grow government’s involvement in Internet 
governance and management would appear to be a reversal of decades of precedent and of the 
Clinton-Gore Administration’s bipartisan policy to allow a diverse assortment of technical 
experts, rather than politicians and bureaucrats, working in loosely knit non-governmental 
organizations to make such engineering decisions. Many unanswered questions lie ahead. For 
instance, with the Internet being a global network of networks, today’s statement does nothing to 
address the effect new rules may have on encouraging additional foreign government control of 
the Internet.
Curiously, today’s speech appears to admit that the Commission did not have enforceable rules 
at the time of last year’s Comcast/BitTorrent decision while the Commission simultaneously files 
its appellate brief defending that decision.
As we analyze this situation further, we remain hopeful that any future Commission action will 
create an atmosphere that is conducive to promoting freedom, investment and innovation not 
only at the edge of the Internet but at its core as well. 
-FCC-