The plan was approved on a party-line vote on Dec. 21, 2010, with the three Democratic commissioners supporting it, and the two Republican commissioners, including Attwell, opposing it. A court challenge, as well as a congressional one, was expected.

The plan would prevent some big telecom companies from serving up some web sites (such as ones they owned, or partnered with for content) at a faster pace or with better-quality images. But it would not recategorize those broadband companies, thus weakening the government's overall ability to police them.

Baker immediately and loudly announced her opposition. "I'm afraid we are endangering a really important agenda. . . by pushing forward with a partisan, big-government regulatory issue that has no immediate need for us to act," Baker said.

She and commissioner Robert McDowell (R) specifically complained about what they said was a lack of transparency in drafting of the proposal.

Previously, Baker has argued net neutrality might actually stifle growth. "I'm just not convinced this is the key that opens the door to innovation, but instead one that deadbolts it locked, shut," said Baker.

"I believe a better approach is to allow more time for the long-standing and time-tested voluntary, collaborative organizations and processes-the very ones that have enabled the Internet to succeed so phenomenally over its history-to develop technically-feasible and mutually-agreeable network management practices."

DTV Coupons

Baker first joined the Commerce Department's NTIA in 2004 as a senior adviser. Two years later, Congress budgeted $1.5 billion for the digital cable conversion, which required TV companies to broadcast through digital airwaves.

Conversion to DTV opened the sale of analog airwaves for other purposes, but would have caused any household using an antenna to receive TV signals to lose service at the time of the conversion. Households with older televisions needed to obtain a converter box, get a satellite or digital-cable service in order to receive a signal. In order to address those issues, Congress authorized the distribution of up to two coupons worth $40 each for the purchase of a conversion box.

In November 2007, Baker became the acting director of NTIA, which oversaw the DTV conversion process. She tried to quit a few months after becoming the director, but stayed in a temporary role until Obama entered the White House. While there, Baker led a program that faced serious troubles. The DTV conversion was originally set for February 17, 2009. But by January 2009, the NTIA had run out of coupon funds while nearly 500,000 households still waited to receive the $40. Early in her NTIA tenure, Baker opposed extending the deadline for the conversion, but by January 2009 she had called for a delay.

The DTV conversion was pushed back to June 2009. Baker was not blamed for the bulk of the problems that arose because she was a latecomer to implementing the program.

Show less