----- Forwarded message from David Farber <[email protected]> ----- Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 12:41:43 -0500 From: David Farber <[email protected]> Subject: [IP] FCC chairman to propose plan for net neutrality Reply-To: [email protected] To: ip <[email protected]>
FCC chairman to propose plan for net neutrality By Cecilia Kang Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, December 1, 2010; 12:01 AM <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120100014_pf.html> The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission plans to announce Wednesday a controversial proposal that would prohibit Internet providers from favoring or discriminating against any traffic that goes over their networks. He would do so, however, without resorting to the more drastic step of changing the way the FCC regulates broadband providers, a move that would have more clearly asserted the government's authority over Internet access. In a statement provided to reporters in advance of Wednesday's announcement, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said he thinks he has "a sound legal basis" to pursue so-called net-neutrality rules that would prevent companies such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T from blocking or serving up some Web sites faster and at better quality than others. Last summer, Genachowski said he would move to reclassify broadband as something akin to more heavily regulated telephone service, after a federal appeals court threw the government's position as Web access regulator into question. The court said in April that the FCC had no legal authority to sanction Comcast for blocking files shared through the BitTorrent application. Broadband companies strongly resisted being reclassified, and now Genachowski has shifted his approach. "Informed by the staff's additional legal analysis and the extensive comments on this issue over the past year, the proposal is grounded in a variety of provisions of the communications laws, but would not reclassify broadband," Genachowski said. Telecom lawyers and public interest groups have argued that without redefining its role over Internet service providers, the FCC's ability to carry out broadband rules is weakened. That suggests that the proposal Genachowski plans to announce Wednesday could still wind up being challenged in courts. Genachowski's proposal also goes against warnings by emboldened Republican lawmakers who have criticized such rules as anti-business. snip ------------------------------------------- ----- End forwarded message -----
