FTC Could Gain Enforcement Power Over Internet 134
Hugh Pickens writes "The Washington Post reports that under a little-known provision in financial overhaul legislation before Congress the Federal Trade Commission could become a more powerful watchdog for Internet users with the power to to issue rules on a fast track and impose civil penalties on companies that hurt consumers. 'If we had a deterrent, a bigger stick to fine malefactors, that would be helpful,' says FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, who has argued in favor of bolstering his agency's enforcement ability. This power would stand in stark contrast to a besieged FCC, whose ability to oversee broadband providers has been cast into doubt after a federal court ruled last month that the agency lacked the ability to punish Comcast for violating open-Internet guidelines. The provision to strengthen the FTC is in the regulatory overhaul legislation passed by the House, and although it is absent from the legislation before the Senate, some observers expect the measure to be included when the House and Senate versions are combined."
We need it fast (Score:3, Interesting)
if this tide is stemmed there, that wont take off.
A good thing, democratically speaking... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Bad Idea... (Score:3, Interesting)
What we wanted was a law that said that ISPs couldn't kneecap my packets if I didn't pay their protection fees.
What we'll get is a huge fuckup.
Re:It should be the FCC (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the government getting into this is the right choice.
I remember talking to my old boss about this 12 years ago. He is very socially conservative and didn't trust government at all, but he agreed that the Feds should be in control of this after having to deal with GTE and Comcast when it came to E-Rate and how they jerked around the schools, police and governments they were supposed to be offering services to in exchange for a monopoly.
I don't get why the Telcos think they have the right to shape traffic, my friends work for a rural electric co-op and the power company doesn't give three hoots what you do with your electrons. Why can't AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, etc be the same? Just sell the bandwidth and let us do whatever we want, within legal boundaries.
I can get in trouble for using too much electricity to grow weed, so I could get in trouble for using my bandwidth for terrorism, child pr0n, etc.
Well when the companies cry about it on Capital Hill, we all know why the FTC is getting involved, because the companies farked up an easy thing.
Sorry I'm posting as AC (Score:2, Interesting)
I used to work in an industry where I once heard the following (from a scumbag who ripped off many people):
"The first time you get a call from the FTC you shit your pants"
"The second time you get a call from the FTC you piss your pants"
"The third time you get a call from the FTC you call your lawyer and ask, 'How much will it cost me this time?'"
People in the spam/telemarketing/shady business/etc. industry think of the FTC as a joke. Their settlements are just a cost of doing business for them. Anything that strengthens their enforcement power gets a big thumbs-up from me, even though I'm usually opposed to big government.
Re:Uh... (Score:3, Interesting)
You could say the same thing about any transaction for that single transaction, that doesn't make it globally applicable.
If I hand a package to you, we are clearly in the same state, unless you are standing on the other side of the border, that doesn't mean my business is exclusively intrastate. Being an internet provider, by nature makes an intra-state only argument VERY difficult if not impossible by its very nature, as you are clearly connected to a global communications network, as that is what you are selling to your customers.
It should NOT EVER be the FCC's authority (Score:1, Interesting)
No Wyatt Earp it's not in the FCC's original mission statement. Oh by the way have you seen that mission statement lately? No?
The FCC was supposed to regulate POWER and FREQUENCY, not network communications!!!
Look how wonderful they have managed power and frequency....
Nearly ALL the public spectrum is Corporate Owned!
Before you give the FCC the authority to do anything keep in mind their failed mission statement!
Also keep in mind once they gain new authority, they will make things worse, and it will be forever into the future.
Teh FCC will NEVER GIVE UP NEW AUTHORITY!
I'm all for net neutrality, but this will be a fucking nightmare!
Re:It should be the FCC (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't get why the Telcos think they have the right to shape traffic, my friends work for a rural electric co-op and the power company doesn't give three hoots what you do with your electrons. Why can't AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, etc be the same? Just sell the bandwidth and let us do whatever we want, within legal boundaries.
Well, the problem is that the electric company generates N megawatts of power, more than enough for all its subscribers, most of the time. When demand exceeds capacity, we get brownouts.
By contrast, the telcos/cable operators oversell their capacity by some huge factor. If they had to provide full bandwidth to all their subscribers simultaneously, they'd need much bigger tubes. The model only works when most subscribers rarely use anything close to their nominal bandwidth. When every Joe Sixpack starts watching streaming video, the total bandwidth of the ISP starts getting used up, quickly. To avoid having to increase capacity, they want to throttle services. And, if you're going to do that, you want to throttle competitors' services before your own...