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The FCC chairman thinks it's still 1996
FCC chairman Ajit Pai sounds like a broken record. "Light-touch framework." "Light-touch approach." "Light-touch regulation." As an ideological concept, it seems reasonable. Especially to a conservative such as Pai, who believes that the government shouldn't "pick winners and losers," to use a favorite phrase of Republicans. Except, when you actually look closely at the chairman's argument about how to regulate internet service providers, it collapses under its own misguided logic.
FCC backs down from municipal broadband case
After losing its bid to protect municipal broadband services, the Federal Communications Commission has apparently given up the fight to keep local competition in high-speed internet service. As Ars Technica reports today, the FCC has decided not to pursue another review of the case that could have put the matter in front of the Supreme Court.
FCC loses its bid to protect city-run broadband
If you were hoping that the FCC's efforts to protect municipal broadband would survive telecoms' attempts to destroy it, we have bad news. A federal appeals court has shot down an FCC order that preempted laws banning city-run internet access in North Carolina and Tennessee, prompting both states to file lawsuits. According to the decision, the Commission was overriding state rights without legal authority. While the FCC interpreted a clause in the Telecommunications Act (that it must "encourage" a timely rollout of broadband) as giving it permission to step in, the court sees it as insisting that cities must expand their internet options. There has to be a clearer mandate, the judges say.
Verizon proposes wholesale rewrite of US telecom law
Here's something you don't see every day: Verizon just put out a press release titled "Congress Needs to Update the Nation's Antiquated and Anti-Competitive Telecom Rules." Yeah, no tip-toeing around here -- Verizon public policy VP Tom Tauke straight-up says that the government should completely rewrite the Telecommunications Act, and give a single federal agency "clear jurisdiction" to enforce the law on a case-by-case basis. That's a direct shot at the FCC, which lost the Comcast BitTorrent case when the court ruled it didn't have the power to enforce net neutrality, and then provoked the ire of both industry and Congress alike when it tried to reclassify internet communications in a way that gave it the power it needed. That's also way beyond the joint Google / Verizon net neutrality proposal from August -- Verizon's gone from suggesting that the FCC make some policy tweaks to demanding that Congress start over with the law that governs the FCC itself, which is something like the difference between a screwdriver and a sledgehammer. Now, Congress actually started to consider a revamp of telecom law in May after the FCC's net neutrality plan backfired, and while we haven't heard much about it, we're certain Verizon's emphatic support (and lobbying dollars) are sure to inject some momentum into the process. Truth be told, we'd actually welcome a wholesale rewrite of the current Telecom Act, which was last seriously revised in 1996 and in large part dates back to 1934. But why listen to us when we've got a pithy quote from Verizon? "The grinding you hear are the gears churning as policymakers try to fit fast-changing technologies and competitive markets into regulatory boxes built for analog technologies and monopoly markets." Yeah, this one's going to get good. Full PR after the break. P.S.- Still unclear on what net neutrality is and why it's important? Check out our Engadget Show interview with Columbia professor Tim Wu and get up to speed.
