Consumers for the first time got federally approved rules guaranteeing their right to view what they want on the Internet. The new framework could also result in tiered charges for web access and alter how companies profit from the network.
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted 3-2 to back Chairman Julius Genachowski’s plan for what is commonly known as “net neutrality,” or rules prohibiting Internet providers from interfering with legal web traffic. President Barack Obama said the FCC’s action will “help preserve the free and open nature of the Internet.”
The move was prompted by worries that large phone and cable firms were getting too powerful as Internet gatekeepers.
more dubious maneuverings from the Obama administration:
The move’s legality was even questioned by FCC Commissioner Michael Copp, one of the Democrats who voted today with Genachowski, saying he considered voting against the proposal because it lacks a sufficiently defensible legal basis to survive a court challenge promised by major Internet Service Providers like Verizon, Microsoft, and AT & T.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2010/12/demint-vows-reverse-fccs-internet-takeover#ixzz18qfflZOc
The non-issue (truly) of big providers preventing equal access was a trojan horse and a pretense to justify FCC regulation of the Internet. It was in defiance of Congress and the courts, and will be unlikely to stand unchallenged. The entire effort was to establish a regulatory beachhead so that from here there can be thoroughgoing regulation of the Internet, probably akin to the so-called Fairness Doctrine whose effect (and perhaps intent) was to squelch free speech. Particularly given the cast of characters who brought this about (read John Fund’s WSJ piecce yesterday), this should worry anyone who values the Internet as a vehicle for free speech.