‘A Foot in the Door’: Hillary Clinton Stands up for Net Neutrality During California Q&A

CLINTON: “For the FCC to do what they want to do to try to create Net Neutrality as the norm, they have to have a hook to hang it on, so they are hanging it on a Title II --"

SWISHER: "You like that hook?"

CLINTON: “Well, it's the only hook they got! I don't know what --"

SWISHER: "Yeah, but what hook would you like? Because your [indecipherable] administration and the Bush administration before were much hands off in that regard."

CLINTON: “Well, you see how things develop? I mean, it wasn't really a threat until relatively recently. I think I gave my first statement about Net Neutrality about eight or nine years ago and we know how important it is because of concentration in the industry and the life. But I think that if there were another hook, it would come out of a modern 21st century Telecom technology app and we don't have that and we are not likely to get that."

SWISHER: "But should this vote happen that way?"

CLINTON: “Oh, yes. Absolutely."

SWISHER: "Should you -- would you vote for that?"

CLINTON: “Yes. I would.”

SWISHER: "For that act but what about when the FCC is about to --"

CLINTON: “I would vote for Net Neutrality, because as I understand it, it’s Title II with a lot of changes within it in order to avoid the worst of the utility regulation. It’s a foot in the door. It’s a value statement. I think the president is right to be upfront and out front on that, but it's not the end of the discussion. We need to do more about how the spectrum is allocated. We need to do more about how we incentivize more competition in broadband. We need to figure out how to treat connectivity as a infrastructure development. There is a lot of other aspects so it's not just Net Neutrality standing alone, end of debate. And that should be a part of a really smart legislative endeavor, but I don't think people believe that can happen in the short-term."