McDowell Sees Trouble Ahead
April 23, 2010
| 3:59 PM
One of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's signature regulatory initiatives -- a controversial effort to strengthen guidelines designed to preserve the Internet's openness -- could be derailed, the agency's senior Republican member said Friday.
CongressDaily reported that Commissioner Robert McDowell blamed a recent federal appeals court decision that faulted the FCC for overstepping its legal boundaries when the agency disciplined Comcast for impeding Internet service to bandwidth-hogging customers. "I think the open Internet proceeding is in big [legal] trouble as a result of the Comcast decision," McDowell said during a news conference.
Genachowski, a Democrat, unveiled the planned expansion of the agency's net neutrality guidelines in September to help lay the foundation for a national broadband plan submitted to Congress last month. The proposal was adopted on a tentative basis in October by a 3-2 party line vote, with the agency's Democrats voting in the affirmative.
Dominant industry players such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon worry that tougher neutrality rules would interfere with management of their networks, while supporters contend that more safeguards are needed to ensure that all Internet content and services remain equally accessible. In the wake of the court decision, Genachowski has been contemplating shifting broadband from its classification as a lightly regulated information service under Title I of the 1934 Communications Act to a heavily regulated telecommunications offering under Title II. To read more, click here. (Subscription required)
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