The Case Against the FCC's Neutrality Rules – CNET

CNETMy analysis of the FCC’s proposed neutrality rules appears this morning on CNET.

No surprise, I think the FCC’s plan is a bad idea, and I think, more to the point, that the FCC is the wrong organization to be “saving” the open Internet. Among other crimes, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation points out, the FCC is the same regulator who has ramped up the penalties and frequency of fines for “indecent” content over the airwaves.

The FCC is also the organization that has tried repeatedly to push through, at the behest of the media industries, the notorious “broadcast flag,” which would force electronics and software companies to limit the legal use of broadcast content.

Meanwhile, the agency that now believes there is a severe lack of competition in broadband provisioning–severe enough to regulate–has done everything it can to stop alternative broadband technologies, including broadband over power lines and municipal wireless projects.

The open Internet is a great thing, but the FCC is wrapping itself in the flag of Internet freedom and consumer advocacy in a most unconvincing manner.