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

[Marianne Granoff]

Sounds like a way to guarantee full employment for attorneys to me  :-)

Marianne Granoff
Albuquerque, NM


>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>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]
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