FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 
WASHINGTON 
OFFICE OF 
THE CHAIRMAN 
The Honorable Carl Levin 
United States Senate 
269 Russell Senate Office Building 
Washington, D.C. 20510 
Dear Senator Levin: 
October 17, 2014 
Thank you for your letter about the need for the Commission to restore rules to protect 
the Open Internet. I share your concerns. Since the D.C. Circuit's decision in January, there are 
no rules in place to prevent a broadband provider from engaging in conduct harmful to Internet 
openness, such as blocking a consumer from accessing a requested website or degrading the 
performance of an innovative Internet application. The Open Internet is too important to leave 
consumers and innovators unprotected. We must reinstate strong, enforceable Open Internet 
rules, and we must do so with dispatch. 
As you know, in May, the Commission adopted a Notice ofProposed Rulemaking 
("Notice") to begin that process. We asked a fundamental question: What is the right public 
policy to ensure that the Internet remains open? And we sought comment on the best way to 
achieve that fundamental policy goal. The response has been remarkable: Over 3.7 million 
comments were filed by the close ofthe comment period on September 15, 2014. This record­
setting level of public engagement reflects the vital nature of Internet openness and the 
importance of our getting the answer right in this proceeding. 
Your letter touches on key issues in the Notice , and it will be included in the record and 
considered as a part of the Commission's review. You call on the FCC to "continue to have 
rules that protect the Internet from becoming a tiered system favoring some over others, as such 
an outcome would stifle innovation." I wholehea1iedly agree. The purpose of our Open Internet 
rules will be to protect and promote the Open Internet, including eliminating discrimination that 
harms consumers, competition, and free expression. 
With respect to your thoughts about the legal foundation for our rules, the Commission is 
considering several options, including Section 706 and Title II of the Communications Act. The 
Notice specifically asks questions about these approaches, including whether the Commission 
should revisit its classification of broadband service as an information service or whether we 
should separately identify and classify under Title II a service that "broadband providers ... 
furnish to edge providers." For approaches involving a Title II classification, we also ask about 
how our forbearance authority should be used to tailor Title II obligations to achieve our publi-c 
policy goals. Since the Notice , record filings by some patiies - such as AOL, Mozilla, the 
Center for Democracy and Technology, a coalition of library and higher education associations, 
Rep. Hemy Waxman, and others- have suggested additional approaches that would combine 
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aspects of both our Section 706 and Title II authority. We are looking closely at these 
approaches as well. This reflects what I have said many times, most recently before the House 
Committee on Small Business: All options remain on the table, including Title II. 
Our Notice , of course, is just the beginning. We held Open Internet Roundtable 
discussions last month, focused on the scope of our Open Internet rules and on whether and how 
they should apply to mobile broadband, including the application of reasonable network 
management to wireless technologies. I was also pleased to participate in Roundtable 
discussions about how to tailor our rules to achieve our policy goals, enforcement, technology, 
economic theory, and, most recently, legal authority. Through these events, we have heard 
views of experts on all sides of the issue, along with real-time input from the public. At the same 
time, a cross-Commission staff team is hard at work reviewing the many comments filed over the 
last four months. Our efforts will ensure that all views are taken into account as the Commission 
looks to adopt sustainable rules that achieve our shared Open Internet goals. 
From the outset of this critically important undertaking, I have been and remain 
committed to exercising the Commission's authority, as needed, to ensure the Internet remains 
free and open for decades to come. I look forward to continued engagement with you as the 
proceeding moves forward to a successful conclusion. 
Sincerely, 
--~-
Torn Wheeler