• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, December 10, 2014

More than two dozen economics and law professors are urging the Federal Trade Commission to weigh in against any new broadband regulations that would prohibit online fast lanes.

“This is not a case where the potential risks would be so great and the potential harms so dire that extreme preventative measures are needed,” the academics said this week in a 13-page letter asking the FTC to involve itself in the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to craft net neutrality rules. “The record is simply insufficient to support the unprecedented regulatory intervention apparently contemplated by the FCC.”

The professors, characterized by The Washington Post as market-minded scholars,” argue that paid fast lanes could be beneficial in certain circumstances, including when companies want to minimize “jitter” for data-intensive applications, like video conferencing.

“Although many net neutrality activists rail against the idea of getting 'stuck in the slow lane,' there are innumerable edge providers that would likely jump at the chance to have their traffic de-prioritized (at lower cost), because their services are time-insensitive,” the academics write. “Slower delivery of these bits wouldn’t matter much to their users, and the cost of delivering those bits would be lower than if they were in a 'faster lane' of Internet traffic.”

Earlier this year, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed new net neutrality rules that would have allowed broadband providers to forge “commercially reasonable” deals to charge content companies more for faster delivery of their material.

That proposal proved controversial with many consumer advocates, who argue that paid fast lanes will disadvantage startups, nonprofits and others who want to get their message out but don't have the funding to pay for faster delivery.

The plan drew more than 3.9 million comments, many of which came from people who opposed paid fast lanes. Critics of the proposal, including President Barack Obama, want the FCC to reclassify broadband as a utility, regulated under Title II of the telecommunications law. Neutrality advocates say the FCC must take that step in order to outlaw paid fast lanes.

The FTC overall hasn't been particularly vocal about net neutrality, but at least one Commissioner seems to have strong views. Republican Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen said in a C-SPAN interview in September that reclassifying broadband as a utility could deprive the FTC of the power to enforce some consumer protection rules.

This week, she reiterated that concern on Twitter. “@FTC protects Internet user privacy, data security,” Ohlhausen tweeted. “Title II #NetNeutrality may remove those protections.”