Topic: FCC wanting to govern Broadband and regulate the internet

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Broadband Providers Peeved With FCC Internet Regulation Plans
By Andrew R Hickey, CRN 
8:37 AM EDT Fri. Jun. 18, 2010 Major carriers blasted the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and its push to have more authority to regulate broadband Internet and classify it as telecommunications service following the FCC'3 3-2 vote to continue considering new federal broadband regulations.
Carriers like AT&T (NYSE:T), Comcast (NSDQ:CMCSA) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) lashed out in statements cutting down the FCC decision to move forward with an inquiry on whether broadband should be classified as a telecommunications service, a move that would give the FCC more control and regulatory power over carriers and the services they provide.

"This is impossible to justify on either a policy or legal basis, and we remain confident that if the FCC persists in its course – and we truly hope it does not – the courts will surely overturn their action," Jim Cicconi, AT&T senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs, said in a statement posted on AT&T's public policy blog, which called the FCC's vote "troubling" and "unsettling."

Meanwhile, Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, criticized the FCC further.

"Reclassifying high-speed broadband Internet service as a telecom service is a terrible idea," Tauke wrote in a statement from Verizon. "The negative consequences for online users and the Internet ecosystem would be severe and have ramifications for decades. It is difficult to understand why the FCC continues to consider this option."

Tauke added: "Rather than attempting to make the new world of broadband fit into the regulatory scheme of the old telephone world, the FCC should acknowledge that this is an issue Congress should address."

And in its statement, a more reserved Comcast noted, "While we remain concerned about unjustified regulation, we are encouraged that the careful balancing the Chairman promised in his public statements since first announcing a 'third way' has led to a rational next step as all stakeholders continue to work together to keep the Internet ecosystem growing and open," Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen told The Washington Post.

The FCC has examined three different ways to classify broadband Internet service and providers. The vote on Thursday will enable the FCC to continue its inquest into how best to classify and regulate the Web. The FCC wants to specifically look at whether broadband Internet should continue to be classified as an "information service;" or if its classification should change to a "telecommunication service." There is also a possible "third way" which would leave Internet content and applications unregulated under the Federal Communications Act, identifying wired broadband service as a telecommunications service.

Thursday's FCC vote follows months of back and forth and comes on the heels of the FCC's decision in May to regulate different forms of Internet access in different ways.
http://www.crn.com/networking/225700593;jsessionid=FRBPU4313S0MDQE1GHOSKH4ATMY32JVN   What do you think?

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[Tony Light]

The question should be why after almost everybody has came out against this, the top democrat on the FCC is going ahead with it?

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[Graybeard]

Big brother in action. Maybe Obama will make Gore the internet czar. 

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[Moonglow©]

This has been discussed for a decade, nothing new here people, move along.

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[notatroll]

This has been discussed for a decade, nothing new here people, move along.

You just never know what the future holds...

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[notatroll]

Verizon Chief Seidenberg Calls FCC Web Proposal ‘Overbearing’
June 22, 2010, 1:00 PM EDT
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e-mail this story print this story digg this save to del.icio.us add to Business Exchange By Todd Shields

June 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has proposed “overbearing” rules for phone and cable companies that could dampen investment, said Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, reacting to a court defeat, has proposed using rules written for telephone service to regulate providers of high-speed Internet access, including Verizon, AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp.

“The FCC has proposed, basically, an unimaginative and overbearing set of rules,” Seidenberg said today in remarks to the Economic Club of Washington. The FCC’s current course “will cause uncertainty in the marketplace, create disincentives for investment” and make the U.S. telecommunications industry less competitive, he said.

Technology companies led by Google Inc. have supported Genachowski’s proposals. Verizon, AT&T and the Washington-based National Cable & Telecommunications Association, a trade group with members led by Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc., oppose them and have said they want Congress to step in.

Last month, 74 House Democrats wrote to Genachowski and said they have “serious concerns” with his proposal, and 171 House Republicans in a letter said applying telephone rules could bring “severe” consequences, including less investment.

The FCC is holding talks with companies, seeking a consensus that might lead to legislation, Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus said in an interview yesterday. He didn’t identify participants.

Google, Skype Technologies SA and the Open Internet Coalition, whose members include Google, Amazon.com Inc. and EBay Inc., met with Lazarus on June 18, according to a disclosure filing.

Net Neutrality

A U.S. court in April said the FCC lacked authority over companies that provide Internet access, and the agency last week asked for comments on how it may proceed to impose regulations. It would need such power to adopt net-neutrality rules, which forbid companies from interfering with subscribers’ Web traffic, and to use subsidies for more home Internet connections.

At an FCC meeting in Washington last week, Genachowski called his proposal “a middle ground” intended “to restore the status quo light-touch framework” from before the court decision in a case brought by Comcast.

--Editors: Ville Heiskanen, Peter Elstrom

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-22/verizon-chief-seidenberg-calls-fcc-web-proposal-overbearing-.html

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