New round of net neutrality talks begins — no FCC invite

Another round of talks on telecom regulation and net neutrality kicked off with the implicit sponsorship of the Information Technology Industry Council. This session includes a broader group of companies (including Cisco as well as ITI members), but the FCC is not a party to the sessions.

We’re not sure whether this is an attempt to come up with a broader-based consensus on net neutrality than the previous Verizon/Google pact provided. Perhaps they believe that would make it look less like a conspiracy, but we think it will only create what looks like a bigger one. The problem is that no industry recommendation is going to placate the public-policy supporters of net neutrality, and there’s no real pressure on the FCC to go along.