[1st-mile-nm] Fwd: Genachowski to reclassify portions of broadband to assert FCC authority over Internet access

[Richard Lowenberg]

> Genachowski to reclassify portions of broadband to assert FCC  
> authority over Internet access
> By Cecilia Kang
>
> <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/05/fcc_chair_to_classify_portions.html 
> >
>
> The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has decided to  
> reclassify portions of broadband as a telecommunications service,  
> allowing the FCC to carry out a net neutrality rule by putting the  
> companies that provide Internet access more concretely under its  
> control.
>
> FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will announce his decision on  
> Thursday, the agency said. Any proposal would be open to public  
> comments and then up for a vote from the five-member commission. The  
> decision comes after pressure Wednesday by key lawmakers and public  
> interest groups to reclassify broadband services, which were  
> deregulated as a service the agency had "ancillary" authority over.
>
> Sources said Genachowski appeared to have shifted his thinking from  
> late last week, when it looked like he was not inclined to make such  
> a move. Broadband service providers and the two Republican  
> commissioners have warned against reclassifying broadband. They said  
> doing so would create more regulatory burden from broadband  
> providers. One source with knowledge of the discussions in the FCC  
> this week said a letter from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Rep.  
> Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) supporting reclassification provided  
> political support for the FCC to shift Internet lines to a more  
> regulatory framework but with lighter regulations. The lawmakers  
> said if the FCC defined broadband as a telecommunications service,  
> it would have to strip Internet access providers of rules that apply  
> to phone companies. The move will be unpopular among broadband  
> service providers and Republicans ahead of elections this fall.
>
> An FCC official said in a statement that the agency's move will be  
> somewhere between deregulation, the state of broadband services  
> today, and a more regulatory approach.
>
> [snip]


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/1st-mile-nm/attachments/20100505/3decb1fa/attachment.html>