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WASHINGTON, DC 20510 
The Honorable Thomas Wheeler 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 12th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
Dear Chairman Wheeler: 
May 9, 2014 
We are writing today to express serious concern over reports that the Federal Communications 
Commission (FCC) has plans to reverse its earlier commitment to preserving a free and open Internet 
for all Americans. 
It is our understanding that the Commission may soon vote on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(NPRM) for new Open Internet rules. This vote comes in the wake of the United States Court of 
Appeals for the District of Columbia's recent decision vacating the Commission's 2010 Open 
Internet Order. This NPRM is a necessary step forward. As the potential to profit from 
monopolistic, anti-competitive, anti-innovation, and anti-consumer practices has grown, the need for 
explicit, enforceable rules has become more urgent. However, it will only be a positive step if you 
and your staff can craft meaningful rules. 
You must act promptly to prevent blocking - both intentional and incidental - ban discrimination, 
and promote increased transparency in the Internet marketplace. The Commission clearly recognizes 
the benefits of an open Internet, and the need for reasonable market rules that will preserve 
Americans' access to the services and sites of their choosing. The court's decision did nothing 
change the need for such rules. It merely overturned the FCC's legal theory regarding its authority 
for the 2010 order. 
Unfortunately, we fear that specific provisions of the NPRM may be insufficient to accomplish the 
task. The current Internet is a free market of products and ideas unparalleled in human history, and 
the FCC must preserve the type of Internet access that allows that marketplace to 
thrive. Unfortunately, reports on your current proposal suggest it may have unintended, deleterious 
effects. While several posts and statements from the Chairman's office offer assurances about your 
goals, we worry that the NPRM language would permit broadband providers to collect new tolls 
from innovators, entrepreneurs and all manner of speakers on the Internet. 
Particularly concerning are reports that the NPRM will allow "paid prioritization arrangements" as 
long as they are "commercially reasonable," as determined by a complicated series of tests that the 
Commission has yet to develop. Changing the rules- to let broadband Internet Service Providers 
(ISPs) demand payment from websites and app developers- would eradicate Net Neutrality, not 
preserve it. Any time one group of packets is favored on an IP network the rest ofthe traffic is, by 
definition, discriminated against. Given the current state of congestion the ISPs have allowed to 
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Letter to Wheeler on NPRM 
May 9, 2014 
develop at their interconnections with the Internet, any discrimination results in a degradation or 
blocking of services to the consumer- services the consumer has paid for. 
The genius of the Internet is that it allows innovation without permission, not innovation only after 
cutting a deal with the ISP and receiving the FCC's blessing for it. 
Sanctioning paid prioritization would allow discrimination and irrevocably change the Internet as we 
know it. Small businesses, content creators and Internet users must not be held hostage by an 
increasingly consolidated broadband industry. Start-ups should not find themselves unable to get a 
foot in the door, deterred from making the kind of investments that make the Internet the engine for 
creativity and economic growth we know today. Consumers should not be faced with fewer choices 
at ever higher prices while ISPs monetize their data and dictate who succeeds and who fails online. 
The D.C. Circuit decision is clear. The Commission has to allow substantial discrimination if it 
chooses to base its Open Internet policies on Section 706 of the Telecom Act. The court said that the 
FCC cannot, under Section 706, adopt rules that resemble "common carrier" requirements to serve 
everyone. Yet that is exactly what Net Neutrality means: keeping the Internet open to all, and 
making sure that Internet access is free from the threat of blocking, discrimination, and pay-to-play 
schemes. 
Fortunately, the Commission still has the time and ability to rectify this problem. We ask you to 
ensure that the NPRM includes specific questions about Title II and the more robust rules that you 
could base on this authority. The item should facilitate discussion of the best option for protecting 
the Open Internet- not merely accept that the Commission has no choice but to permit toll lanes and 
other kinds of unreasonable discrimination. Consumers and innovators cannot afford to wander 
through this regulatory murk any longer. The time has come for the FCC to adopt Net Neutrality 
rules that provide clear, strong protections for the Open Internet and all Americans, once and for all. 
Sincerely, 
Charles E. Schumer 
Bernard Sanders 
AI Franken Kirsten E Gillibrand 
Edward J. Markey 
-
Barbara Boxer 
Letter to Wheeler on NPRM 
May 9, 2014 
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Jeff Merkley 
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Richard Blumenthal