ALEXANDRIA, VA -- Today, Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) Chairman Julius Genachowski announced his intention to impose “Net Neutrality” regulation on the Internet by year’s end.  The new plan, which has not been released publicly and which presumably will be deliberated on and revised behind closed doors over the next three weeks, will be voted on at the FCC’s December 21 meeting. 

In response, Center for Individual Freedom (“CFIF”) President Jeffrey Mazzella made the following statement:

“By a two-to-one margin, the American public opposes regulation of the Internet via ‘Net Neutrality,’ and a bipartisan majority in Congress has expressed opposition to it in no uncertain terms.  A unanimous panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled that the FCC lacks authority to regulate the Internet. Yet, bucking the federal courts, Congress and public opinion, the FCC persists. 

“While we appreciate the fact that Chairman Genachowski has seemingly stepped back from the ‘Title II reclassification’ cliff, we maintain that opening up the regulatory Pandora’s Box that is ‘Net Neutrality’ at all is both unwarranted and unnecessary.  For a government agency to unilaterally grant itself the power to do so is flat out dangerous.”

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