35 The Commission does point to episodes supposedly supporting its view that paid prioritization constitutes a significant threat. Order ¶ 69, 79 n.123. It is, however, merely pointing to a handful of episodes among the large number of transactions conducted by many broadband providers. Furthermore, neither in this Order nor in the 2010 Broadband Order, 25 F.C.C. Rcd. at 17915-26, ¶¶ 20-37, cited by this Order as support, Order ¶ 79 n.123, does the Commission sift through the evidence to show that any episode impaired the ability of the internet to maximize consumer satisfaction and the flourishing of edge providers in the aggregate, as opposed to harm to a particular edge provider. Nor does it show whether, if there was harm, a far narrower rule would not have handled the problem. (For example, if a broadband provider throttled an edge provider’s content at the same time as the broadband provider provided similar content, then—assuming no justification—grounds for action against such behavior could be discerned. Compare § 616(a)(3) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 536(a)(3).) In his dissent to the Order, Commissioner Pai, using terms perhaps feistier than would suit a court, summarized it as follows: The evidence of these continuing threats? There is none; it’s all anecdote, hypothesis, and hysteria. A small ISP in North Carolina allegedly blocked VoIP calls a decade ago. Comcast capped BitTorrent traffic to ease upload congestion eight years ago. Apple introduced FaceTime over Wi-Fi first, cellular networks later. Examples this picayune and stale aren’t enough to tell a coherent story about net neutrality. The bogeyman never had it so easy. Pai Dissent at 333. And Judge Silberman’s observations about the episodes marshalled to support the precursor order vacated in Verizon seem as applicable today as then:

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