FCC's Clyburn skirts reclassification, likely to side with chairman

Mignon Clyburn, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, said she hasn't decided conclusively what course of action she will take as the agency deliberates on whether it will reclassify broadband services under Title II. But a source close to Clyburn said the Democratic member will likely side with a decision made by the chairman.

But in an interview with "The Communicators" on C-SPAN, she told host Peter Slen and Post Tech that she is in active discussion with the chairman's office, other commissioners, companies and public interest groups that all have a opinion in the debate.

The show will air Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and again Monday at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

"I'm hopeful that under the current framework, we can achieve objectives I put forth," Clyburn said. But "I'm open that if we see in our evaluations that there are deficiencies there . . . than we need to have a different set of conversations."

In the interview, Clyburn talked about her views on the federal appeals court decision in favor of Comcast. She said the decision was narrowly tailored and showed the FCC didn't have the ability to regulate network management choices of companies.

Later, she clarified her comments to Post Tech in an e-mail:

“The Comcast decision is narrow in one respect: it does not state, as some would have it, that the Commission cannot regulate the Internet, period. Rather, it held that we do not have the ancillary authority – under Title I – to enforce the four open Internet principles we have had in place for several years. We are therefore not foreclosed from using other sources of authority to enact and enforce rules that enable us to keep the Internet open and free. I am open to all options and believe that we should not be afraid to ask the tough questions in order to find the best way to keep the Internet in the hands of the people and not industry.”

A full video of interview will be available today at noon.