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casmith0741 karma

Have we heard the last of Conway Stern? And what is his real name?

casmith0725 karma

That's all well and good, but /u/madronedorf is correct. POTUS can remove federal executive department heads (i.e., cabinet members) at will, but not the heads of independent regulatory commissions like the FCC.

casmith076 karma

That argument couldn't sound any more corporate if Comcast themselves posted it on the front page of their website. I think we all know that discriminatory pricing will do nothing but stifle competition AND growth. The only difference would be the means by which companies limit choices and access - it would be through pricing then, whereas now its by near-monopolous strangleholds on markets.

casmith075 karma

Krieger.

casmith075 karma

I originally thought that the controlling authority was 15 USC 2053(d), but that does not apply to the FCC. There is no such provision in 47 USC 154, which provides for the FCC. However, countless memorandum opinions provided by past Attorneys General seem to suggest that while a chairman can be removed, either the Vice Chair or another member of the commission would rise up. I'm not sure how much that changes anything, since you're unlikely to get a radically different mindset from one of the other 4 members on the commission vs. Wheeler.

I can't find a transcript, but a quick google search yielded this article concerning his September comments. I have not read the article in depth, however, so I don't purport it to be objective whatsoever, just that it cites the statements made by Wheeler in September.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-fcc-chairman-admits-us-broadband-is-a-mess-will-he-fix-it