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Who Regulates the Internet Gatekeepers?

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While the court did not rule on the legal merits of net neutrality as a viable form of regulation, it did nudge the agency to get explicit authority to regulate the internet from Congress.  Given the current tenor of the debate on net neutrality however, garnering support for legislation could take years.

Another option the FCC may consider is reclassifying broadband service as a utility service rather than merely an “information service.” That would make ISPs nearly as heavily regulated as telephone companies, effectively reversing a position they adopted in 2002 and prompt the ire of anti-regulatory Republicans in Congress and a series of lawsuits by the telecommunications industry.

When pressed for an answer by the Senate Commerce committee during an oversight hearing on April 14^th on what he will finally decide, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sidestepped the question, saying the Commission hasn’t “settled on a path forward. We’re focused on the policy objectives around rural America and consumers and small businesses” and implementing its national broadband plan the agency released to great fan fare on March 17^th.

In 2009, Congress directed the FCC to create a broadband plan that would deliver high speed internet access to the homes of more than 100 million people.  The plan among other things, aims to establish competition policies, foster the innovation in applications, especially in the creation of online video, and ensure affordability.

Either way, such large scale objectives will be difficult to achieve without proper regulatory authority from the nation’s most important agency overseeing communication services.

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