FCC Plows Ahead with Plan to Regulate the Internet

Exactly one month after a federal court ruled the Federal Communications Commission lacks the authority to regulate the Internet, the agency’s chairman unveiled a plan to nonetheless implement his ambitious National Broadband Plan—an avenue he called a “third way.”

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said agency lawyers had found a way for the commission to strictly impose net neutrality rules on Internet service providers (ISPs), despite the fact that the April 6 Comcast v. FCC decision by the United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia said it did not.

While admitting “the Comcast decision has created a serious problem,” Genachowski claims the ruling still leaves wiggle room for the FCC to regulate ISPs with what he promises will be a “light touch.”

Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington, DC, scoffed at Genachowski’s “light tough” formulation.

“While the FCC is attempting to create a regulatory framework suitable for the ever-changing Internet ecosystem, its proposal is tantamount to going duck hunting with a cannon,” Atkinson said.

(You can read the rest of my story at InfoTech & Telecom News.)