I feel safer already! From the Washington Examiner:
Chairman Julius Genachowski is moving forward as rapidly as he dares to add the Federal Communications Commission to the growing list of federal agencies used by President Obama to enforce a radical agenda opposed by the Democratic Congress and an overwhelming majority of voters. Genachowski recently unveiled a revised draft of his 2009 “net neutrality” proposal that would put the Internet under a New Deal-era communications bureaucracy. Under the guise of protecting consumers from being forced to pay for varying levels of delivery access and speed, Genachowski proposes to drag the Internet under the same regulatory authority that puts the FCC in charge of radio, telephone and television broadcasting.
Internet Service Providers would be barred from charging multiple rates to different customers, as well as from denying selected applications and services access to their networks. The proposal also contains vague mentions of new “incentives” to ISPs to expand their networks to insure equal access to the Internet. Virtually all major ISPs oppose the proposal, while it is favored by radical political activists masquerading as consumer advocates, some liberal members of Congress, and federal bureaucrats who never miss an opportunity to justify bigger budgets and staffs.
Genachowski says his proposal will make the FCC “the cop on the beat,” bringing justice and fairness to the Internet on behalf of consumers. The cop is needed, he argues, because too often ISPs have “prevented consumers from using the applications of their choice. The framework is designed to guard against these risks while protecting the needs and interests of providers.” In other words, Genachowski is from the government and he is here to help us.
In fact, Genachowski does not have the authority to regulate the Internet.
Well, I’m not sure the government has the authority to set wages for CEOs and take over car companies, banks, student loans, and health care, either — but that certainly hasn’t stopped them from doing it anyway.
Authority is dependent on who’s in power. A nation of laws? How totally not progressive such antiquated thinking is.
I have faith that Bos’n Higgs will make everything turn out all right.
abolish the FCC
-for the encouragement of the other regulatory agencies.
Right now, as a DSL customer, I can pay different fees for different download speeds. I pay for the fastest access I can get in my neighborhood. Under these proposed rules, either no one can get this speed, or everyone will have to pay more, even when they don’t want the fastest access speed.
Progress!
I second Ernst’s suggestion.
I don’t think Ernst’s suggestion goes far enough. Abolishing the bureaucrats may do more to encourage discretion than merely renaming their departments.
This, Congressional Review Act could be a major actor in the upcoming 2 years.
Thanks SDN.
Have you ever seen a booby-trapped iceberg from a distance? Well, don’t blink, because we’ve got a full head of steam.
See, the problem for regulators is that there’s nothing wrong with the Internet. It works. It’s cheap. It’s free. Everybody loves it. A grim sight indeed for people who get their money and influence and jollies from regulating things. Faced with this, regulators have two options for staying relevant:
1) Make trouble.
2) Make trouble up.
The second option has been tried. But even the seemingly boundless mandate of “homeland security” isn’t enough to alter the underlying structure of the Internet–which is sensible, equitable and self-healing–to something more suitable for bureaucrats and lobbyists.
So now they’re stoking the engine: it’s time to make trouble. By introducing arbitrary rules, paperwork, and vague incentives, the FCC will make the Internet work less efficiently. Once access is rendered less fair by incentives and the ability to self-regulate is hampered by red-tape, people will gradually grow dissatisfied, and most will blame their ISPs. Then, our heroes, the FCC will swoop in to save the day! There’ll be power and graft for all.
The political adage “never waste a crisis” is only half right. Sometimes you have to bring the iceberg to you.
#7
It’s all about control. If they, the government, can control what you read, see, and hear, they can control you.
Oh. Man. I’m sounding like my dad.