Frustrated by a federal appeals court ruling that the FCC had no authority to second-guess Comcast’s treatment of customers and under pressure from the Obama Administration to impose a net neutrality regime (whatever that truly means) on the broadband industry, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski is now asserting the commission’s right to regulate Internet access providers under the ancient rules that govern telephone landlines.
We don’t know whether Congress will let the FCC get away with it – lobbyists on both sides are already shopping for new vacation houses in Aspen — or what the commission would actually do with the authority if it wins the political battle. But we do know this is very bad news for those who fear that the uncertainty will slow both the expansion of Internet capacity and the pace of innovation.
Not to worry, explains Mr. Genachowski: He and his fellow Democrats on the FCC have no intention of fitting up the Internet with the sort of corset that old Ma Bell used to wear. But the long, dreary history of the FCC, which has rarely hesitated to go where angels fear to tread, has got to make you wonder.
The specifics of this issue make it especially troubling. The Internet has blossomed without regulation, bringing the rich fruits of the information revolution to most Americans. Moreover, there is no plausible story to be told that broadband providers aren’t competing their little heads off; indeed, there is solid evidence that competition is alive and well in the broadband business. And if there ever were cause for concern, there is no reason to believe that the threat of regulation or antitrust intervention wouldn’t keep the industry on the straight and narrow. In short, the FCC is asserting its right to impose solutions where there are no significant problems.
We know that markets don’t always work. But it is astonishing that Washington seems prepared to deliver one market that most assuredly does into the hands of a gang that rarely shoots straight.
