This first appeared in BigGovernment.com:
November 30th Could Be the Day the Government Seizes Control of the Internet
by Seton Motley
November 30th, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) could potentially engage in one of the largest federal power grabs we have ever seen.
After two years of this Presidential Administration and this Congress, that is saying an awful lot about an awful lot.
And what’s worse, the FCC would be doing it without Congress weighing in. At the FCC’s November meeting – note the coincidental date of choice, AFTER the impending election – three unelected bureaucrats (of five) could simply vote themselves rulers of 1/6th of our entire economy – the information and technology sector.
Meaning the Internet that you currently enjoy – that has been a marvel of economic and information innovation and success – will be subject to vast new governmental regulations. You didn’t elect these people – but they are on the verge of electing themselves Internet overlords.
The Internet is the future – and increasingly the present – of news and information delivery. With each passing day, we move a little further away from the old media models – print, broadcast and cable television, radio – and towards an all-Web world. Eventually, most or all of the news and information we get – written, and spoken into microphones and cameras – will be on and for the Internet.
And we are on the verge of having this new world – the all-encompassing future of First Amendment free speech in America – swallowed up by three unelected D.C. bureaucrats and their Commission.
This is one of the most important battles ever waged in Washington – and precious little is known about it outside the Beltway.
What we are talking about is Internet reclassification. What that means is the FCC – which by its own admission doesn’t have authority over the Web – would just vote itself said authority. By reclassifying the Internet – so that it would be subject to the same rules as landline telephones.
The FCC has long had tremendous power over landline telephones, which is why there has been so much incredible innovation with them these last 70+ years. (Note: tremendous sarcasm here.)
The FCC has no power over the Internet because the FCC doesn’t have power over anything until Congress writes a law saying they do. And Congress has never done this for the FCC with the Internet.
It’s not just me saying this. 299 members of Congress have said so – a large bipartisan majority. More than 150 organizations, state legislators and bloggers have said so. So have seventeen minority groups – that are usually almost always in Democrat lockstep.
So have many additional normally Democrat paragons, including several large unions: AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America (CWA),International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW); several racial grievance groups: League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Minority Media and Telecom Council (MMTC), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Urban League; and an anti-free market environmentalist group: the Sierra Club.
So too has the unanimous D.C. Circuit Court – led by a Democrat Bill Clinton-appointee – ruling in April in the Comcast-BitTorrent case that the FCC doesn’t have the authority to regulate the Internet.
Most importantly, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has himself said so. In an interview last week with the Washington Post, the Chairman readily acknowledged “(W)e have a Communications Act that wasn’t written for broadband.”
Chairman Genachowski is referring to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the last time Congress addressed communications policy and the authorities the FCC has there over. Broadband Internet for all intents and purposes didn’t yet even exist.
The remedy to all of this is crystal clear. Congress should do what it’s supposed to do – write a law that defines and details the FCC’s role (or lack thereof) in regulating the Internet.
And the FCC should do what it’s supposed to do – unless and until Congress acts, NOTHING.
What the FCC must NOT do is unilaterally vote itself vast new powers under the cover of bureaucratic, post-election darkness.
It’s sad how little you understand Network Neutrality, common carrier law, and how the Internet actually works.
Currently, our large ISPs have chosen on their own, to adopt common carrier practices with regards to the Internet. However, they are beginning to reject this practice and many ISPs have already to started to fundamentally change the way people access the Internet, what can connect to the Internet, how traffic is prioritized on the Internet, and what sites can even be accessed. This shift will fundamentally alter the basic foundation of the Internet.
Network neutrality allows the FCC to enforce common carrier laws (a principle that has existed since the 1600’s) with regard to the Internet and ensure neutrality. Companies like AT&T have created this lie that you are parroting and it cracks me up to see a user with the name “libertyjon” actually parroting corporate talking points. But I guess it’s far easier to embrace the talking points than to research the creation of the Internet, common carrier history, and network neutrality.
If we value the Internet as the libertarian utopia that it currently is, then network neutrality is the only way to ensure that corporations like Comcast and AT&T don’t destroy it. Your position is akin to saying that the first amendment actually strips us of liberty because in effect it is regulating speech by the simple fact that it addresses speech.
Comcast, Verizon nor AT&T created the fundamental protocols on which the Internet run. Our tax dollars were spent to create these protocols and the foundation of the Internet. Ensuring that they are not fundamentally altered to re-shape the Internet is in everyone’s interest. Common carrier practices have existed in law since the 1600’s for a reason and that is because discrimination is bad for everyone.
Actually, I didn’t write the post; Seton Motley did. I just reposted it. I did, though, post about this some time ago, coming out in favor of Congress passing the compromise package (http://www.richmondteaparty.com/2010/08/a-statement-on-net-neutrality/). My fear is that if Congress doesn’t weigh in, the FCC — an unelected, unaccountable, and openly partisan group — will force their own regulations that will, make no mistake, be very unfriendly to free speech. You may disagree with me on this, but I generally trust the market far more than I do Big Government (especially the unelected branch) to work this stuff out.
The FCC cannot be allowed to regulate the internet. Congress – our elected officials – must not give away this control to a small group of unelected partisans.
[…] On September 2, 2010, the FCC announced it would postpone any final decisions on regulating ‘net neutrality’ until after the November mid-term elections. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/FCC-Net-Neutrality-Decision-Is-Delayed-Possibly-Until-November-836417/ The Richmond Tea Party describes this November meeting could be “the day the government seizes control of the internet.” http://www.richmondteaparty.com/2010/10/november-30th-could-be-the-day-the-government-seizes-control… […]