Actually if you look at the documents of the new exchange in question, IEX, they don't propose to do anything about HFT at all.
They are still a price-time priority matching exchange, they still allow colocation (well not directly, but they are themselves in data centers that have colocation), they still offer exotic order types, and their much hyped added latency amounts to 350 micro seconds. They aren't trying to remove HFT from the markets, they are trying to disadvantage one class of HFT in favor of another.
I personally don't have any problem with their goal, but they aren't being honest about it and that seems problematic.
They are still a price-time priority matching exchange, they still allow colocation (well not directly, but they are themselves in data centers that have colocation), they still offer exotic order types, and their much hyped added latency amounts to 350 micro seconds. They aren't trying to remove HFT from the markets, they are trying to disadvantage one class of HFT in favor of another.
I personally don't have any problem with their goal, but they aren't being honest about it and that seems problematic.