FCC May Tweak Broadband Plan 52
adeelarshad82 writes "Despite a recent ruling that said the FCC did not have the right to interfere in Comcast's network management issues, the agency is pushing ahead with its national broadband plan, though there might be some tweaks. Since the case was won on the fact that the FCC based its decision on its Internet Policy Principles, a set of guidelines the agency developed internally several years ago regarding broadband Internet service and not actual rules that went through a formal, open rulemaking process, they are invalid, as is the enforcement action. FCC general counsel Austin Schlick acknowledged that the court's decision may affect a significant number of important plan recommendations. The commission is assessing the implications of the decision for each recommendation to ensure that it has adequate authority to execute the mission laid out in the plan."
Add an amendment to the constitution... (Score:4, Interesting)
...granting power to Congress to regulate commerce INSIDE the states. That appears to be the only way they (and the FCC) can regulate a company like Comcast of Baltimore, or Comcast of Oklahoma, or other wholly intrastate companies.
Otherwise without that amendment, the regulation responsibility falls to the Maryland Government's Public Utility Commission, Oklahoma's PUC, et cetera...... the same way electricity and natural gas companies are regulated.
IHMO.
Please don't mod me down if you disagree.
formal, open rulemaking process (Score:5, Interesting)
So the true ruling is that the FCC really DOES have this authority, they just have to put the rules in black and white before they run off enforcing them. Nothing new here, just that they didn't follow procedures ( DOH ! ). And you can bet when they do, Comcast will regret calling them out on it. ( of cousre even if they do go down, their board already made their millions )
Re:Add an amendment to the constitution... (Score:0, Interesting)
The FCC deals with communication. The Internet is data. That is why the Internet is not regulated and taxed like the Telcos are. The politicians have been looking for a way to tax the Net for years. If they can get the Net recognized as a communication network then they win.
This is about power, control and money. Remember: "We are from the Government and we are here to help".
Re:formal, open rulemaking process (Score:3, Interesting)
If the FCC follows the proper rule making procedures, it would still be possible for a future court to rule that the FCC does not have that authority.
Under NCTA v. Brand X [google.com] and the Chevron Doctrine [wikipedia.org] courts have very little power to overrule agency interpretations of vague statutes. Under Brand X itself, the Supreme Court found that the telecom act was vague on whether internet access service was or was not a "telecommunications service" (versus a "information service"), and therefore, the FCC's interpretation was valid unless it was not a reasonable policy choice. It seems pretty clear that if the FCC changed its mind, and enacted a new policy that found internet access was a telecommunications service and therefore potentially subject to common carriage regulation, the courts would have to accept that (because it's a reasonable policy choice). So long as the FCC followed the proper rule-making process.