The FCC May Decide Not To Regulate Broadband

This morning the Washington Post reported that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is leaning toward letting the telecomms have their way — not asserting greater authority to regulate the Internet by reclassifying broadband as a Title II service. The blogs are atwitter (HuffPo, StopTheCap) that not voting to apply Title II regulation to Internet carriers is tantamount to giving up on net neutrality — which has been a centerpiece of the Obama administration's tech policy. The Post paraphrases its sources, who are reading the chairman's mind, that Genachowski believes "the current regulatory framework would lead to constant legal challenges to the FCC's authority every time it attempted to pursue a broadband policy." The FCC will say only that the chairman has made no decision yet.

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry, the Invisible Hand(TM) will reach down from Heaven and drop off a brand new ISP that doesn't interfere with your connection. Any minute now.

Re:Great

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Hey, at least it's better than the liberal socialist backyard Kumbaya drum circle! [arstechnica.com] It's about time we told those damn hippies with their "free exchange of information" and "open source" and all that communist bilge where to get off -- only good old fashioned American capitalism can produce successes like Netscape!

Re:Great

[Ichijo]

Now Comcast gets to decide what websites I can visit and at what speed. Or, alternately, I can go to the one other alternative I have (AT&T) and let THEM decide what websites I can visit and at what speed.

Or you could get satellite broadband.

Or wireless.

Or form a neighborhood Internet co-op.

Or get your own leased line.

Or VPN past your ISP's traffic shaping.

Re:Regulation requires upkeep

[Anonymous Coward]

...one or two relatively cheap fibers to every home is all we will need for a decade or two.

"640K should be enough for anybody"