. >> that was robert mcdowell, former republican commissioner on the fcc. thank you for joining us on "the communicators. joining us is randolph may and gigi sohn. all, what is public knowledge's involvement and position with regard to the verizon versus fcc case? x public knowledge is a nonprofit advocacy agency. internet users to have an open unfettered internet that is not controlled by gatekeepers. the one that drives economic growth through speech, democracy, creativity. we were supporting the fcc's determination that there was a concern with these bottleneck companies controlling who are the winners and losers on the internet and they have the right or the legal authority and the authority under the first amendment to protect consumers and protect competition by prohibiting these gatekeepers certain content services and applications over others. >> same question. >> peter, thank you for having me. gigi and i are longtime friends. the free state foundation is a nonprofit and educational and research institution as well. nonpartisan. we are a free marke

former republican commissioner robert mcdowell who is the top republican on the commission in 2010 joins us by phone. commissioner mcdowell, what was the argument that was heard at the commission about this open internet forum? >> first of all peter thank you for having me and this is a very important topic and you are covering it at a very good time. so, the court arguments earlier this week went on for two hours even though the original schedule i think was about 45 minutes. so that shows you just tell interested the judges were in the subject matter at hand. and it's complex. it's complex legally and it's complex factually. one of my concerns is that here we have a roomful of lawyers. i am a lawyer so i can say that, that will determine the fate of how the internet internet should you it fall than that could be a little disheartening. we have had the internet grow and prosper in blossom because of engineers and academics and the free market. so what is really at the heart of the court case is whether or not the fcc has the legal authority to do what it did and there are lots of differ

former republican commissioner robert mcdowell, who is the top republican on the commission in 2010, joins us by phone. commissioner mcdowell, what was the argument that was heard at the commission about this open internet order? >> guest: well, first of all, peter, thank you for having me, and this is a very important topic, and you're covering it at a very good time. so the court arguments earlier this week went on for two hours even though the original schedule, i think, was about 45 minutes. so that shows you just how interested the judges were in the subject matter at hand. and it's complex. it's complex legally, it's complex factually, and one of my concerns is that here we had a room full of lawyers -- i am a lawyer, so i can say that -- and are they determining the fate of how the internet should evolve. and that could be a little disheartening when up til now we've had the internet grow and prosper and blossom because of engineers and academics and user groups and the prix market. free market. so what's really at the heart of the court case is whether or not the fcc had the