FCC Smackdown Is Bad News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives voted on Friday to reject Internet "neutrality" rules that were adopted last year to keep big Internet service providers from blocking certain traffic.

House Republicans, in a 240-179 vote, pushed through a measure disapproving the Federal Communications Commission's rules. Tech and telecom giants such as Verizon Communications Inc and Microsoft Corp could be affected.  The outlook for further progress by the Republicans in rolling back the FCC's actions was uncertain, however.

It's enough damage as is.  If Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can influence what services run best on their network or outright control communications, the freedom of the Internet will dry up and privacy will disappear.   The fact that this is even on the table should make consumers take notice and get involved. 

Democratic Representative Anna Eshoo called the Republican push against the FCC's rules "an ideological assault on a federal agency and its ability to provide basic consumer protections."

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday dismissed challenges to the FCC rules that had been filed by Verizon and MetroPCS Communications Inc, ruling that the challenges were premature.

"In most parts of the country, companies like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast have a virtual monopoly over access to the Internet," Waxman said. "Without regulation, they can choke off innovation by charging for the right to communicate with their customers."

That's a sunny outlook.  So far, nobody else has mentioned the logging of usage and selling out customer's habits in great detail to advertisers.  Controlling which websites we can load, or which games will be "configured" to run better on specific networks.  The death of competition, innovation and consumer choice, or right to privacy or opting out of tracking practices.  Communication companies would get to double-bill for providing a service they can manipulate to their benefit without oversight.  True, the FCC has never controlled the Internet.  But someone should, and they are better prepared than any other entity that comes to mind.