Source: Net-Neutrality Comments Total Will Grow

The FCC has not finished posting all the comments to its network neutrality docket that were filed by the Aug. 30 deadeline, according to an FCC source speaking on background.

That means the comment total could potentially push past 22 million.

It will be hard to figure out exactly how many comments were filed by the deadline since the FCC is at the same time posting comments that have come in in the two days since the deadline.

The FCC will continue to collect and post those comments, but only those filed before Aug. 30 are part of the official record the commission has to consider as it makes the decision on whether to roll back Title II classification of internet access providers and reconsider the rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization.

In that Restoring Internet Freedom proposal, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is also proposing to scrap the general conduct standard, which is the previous chairman, Tom Wheeler, said was necessary so that the FCC could deal on a case-by-case basis with potential impediments to net neutrality that did not fall within those "bright-line" rules.

At press time, the docket had 21,879,946 comments.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.