Net Neutrality Neutered

The courts unleashed a massive blow against theFCC  today as a three-judge appellate court unanimously ruled that the FCC has no right whatsoever to enforce net neutrality.

Because the FCC "has failed to tie its assertion" of regulatory authority to an actual law enacted by Congress, the agency does not have the power to regulate an Internet provider's network management practices, wrote Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Tuesday's decision could doom one of the signature initiatives of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat. Last October, Genachowski announced plans to begin drafting a formal set of Net neutrality rules--even though Congress has not given the agency permission to do so. That push is opposed by Verizon and other broadband providers.

"Our primary goal was always to clear our name and reputation," Comcast said in a statement. "We have always been focused on serving our customers and delivering the quality open-Internet experience consumers want."
Net neutrality proponents responded to Tuesday's ruling by saying the FCC should slap landline-style regulations on Internet providers, which could involve price regulation, service quality controls, and technological mandates.

The agency "should immediately start a proceeding bringing Internet access service back under some common carrier regulation," Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn said. The Media Access Project said, without mentioning common carrier regulations directly, that the FCC must have the "ability to protect the rights of Internet users to access lawful content and services of their choice."

In a statement on Tuesday, the FCC indicated that it was thinking along the same lines. The D.C. Circuit did not "close the door to other methods for achieving this important end," the agency said. A spokeswoman declined to elaborate. 

So the problem is this:  Congress has to pass a law to give the FCC this power.  That law will never survive a GOP filibuster attempt much less ConservaDems in the Senate so plan B isto have the internet regulated like landline phone lines.

In the meantime, broadband companies are thrilled they can now charge as much as they want to while choosing to limit access to whatever parts of the internet they want to as well.

When you're the only broadband provider in town, you're at their mercy...oh yes, and the US has one of the lowest percentages of broadband availability of any country in the Western world.  Everyone wants to charge for content, nobody wants to pay for the infrastructure to get that content to your home or business, and that includes broadband providers and the GOP won't allow the government to do it.

That leaves you, the consumer.

Better hope the FCC figures something out soon.