Trump’s latest FCC advisor opposes Title II, supports data cap exemptions

Jon Brodkin

President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

Getty Images | Joe Raedle

President-elect Donald Trump yesterday announced a third advisor to oversee the Federal Communications Commission's transition from Democratic to Republican control.

Roslyn Layton, Trump's new addition, joins Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison on the FCC transition team. All three are outspoken opponents of the FCC's Title II net neutrality rules and are affiliated with the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Trump advisor Roslyn Layton.

Roslyn Layton

Current FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's signature move was the reclassification of ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act and imposition of net neutrality rules. The move was supported by Democrats and consumer advocates who say ISPs shouldn't be able to favor or disfavor online content by blocking, throttling, or charging for prioritization. Wheeler's Title II net neutrality rules survived a court challenge from ISPs but could be eliminated under Trump either with Congressional legislation or FCC action.

Layton argued on the AEI blog that government regulations aren't necessary to protect net neutrality. "Regulation proponents argue that without such rules your Internet provider would speed up or slow down websites," she wrote. "There have never been rules against this, but Internet providers don’t do it anyway. Simply put, the business opportunity to deliver an open Internet is far greater. Failing that, antitrust laws deter discriminatory behavior, already ensuring net neutrality."

Layton opposed proposed rules intended to provide alternatives to set-top boxes that must be rented from cable TV companies and customer privacy rules for Internet providers. She also supports ISPs' right to accept money in exchange for exempting some services from data caps.

"Free data programs from mobile service providers have the potential to disrupt the traditional online advertising space as the programs offer businesses and entrepreneurs a third way, a path that doesn’t involve Google or Facebook, to reach consumers," Layton wrote. "A free data program could shift ad dollars away from those incumbents and create competition in the online advertising space by providing an alternative for entrepreneurs and advertisers to reach mobile subscribers."

The Wheeler-led FCC has allowed data cap exemptions to proliferate despite objections from Democratic senators, but recently criticized AT&T for exempting its own DirecTV video from mobile data caps while charging other companies for the same "zero-rating" privilege. Opponents of zero-rating say the practice helps ISPs favor their own content at the expense of competitors, and lets big-pocketed companies pay for advantages that many startups can't afford.

In addition to being a visiting fellow at AEI, Layton does telecom research at Aalborg University in Denmark. The Trump transition team position is a part-time volunteer role with no compensation, she told Ars today. We asked Layton for an interview about her plans for the FCC, but she said she is not yet authorized to speak publicly about the transition.

"I am not a member of any political party," Layton says on her website. "I don’t own stock in any Internet or telecom company.  My compensation comes partly from a program in the Danish government and partly from Strand Consult."

Trump's previously announced FCC advisors have ties to the telecom industry. Eisenach formerly worked on behalf of Verizon and other telecoms as a consultant, and Jamison used to manage regulatory policy at Sprint. Both opposed many of Wheeler's major initiatives, and Jamison wants to eliminate most of the FCC.

Consumer advocacy group Free Press argued last week that Trump's FCC advisors have "habitually opposed the communications rights of real people, prioritizing instead the monopoly-minded views of companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon."