{"id":5437,"date":"2010-05-25T11:14:09","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T15:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=5437"},"modified":"2010-05-26T17:45:23","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T21:45:23","slug":"congress-to-fcc-abandon-plans-to-take-over-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/5437\/congress-to-fcc-abandon-plans-to-take-over-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress to FCC: Abandon Plans to Take Over the Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an effort to circumvent<\/a> a unanimous federal appeals court ruling, the Federal Communications Commission (\u201cFCC\u201d) announced earlier this month that it will pursue a \u201cthird way\u201d to obtain regulatory control over the Internet.\u00a0 Specifically, lacking the straightforward authority to impose burdensome and unnecessary regulations on the World Wide Web, the FCC is now seeking<\/a> “to shoehorn Internet service into regulations drafted in the 1930s for old-fashioned landline telephones” in an effort to dramatically expand its regulatory reach.<\/p>\n

CFIF and others have written extensively<\/a> about how such an unprecedented power grab threatens to suffocate private broadband investment, jobs and Internet innovation.\u00a0 And, in a rare display of bipartisanship, Congress is now adding its voice of opposition, too.<\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a> sent yesterday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, 74 Congressional Democrats expressed \u201cserious concerns\u201d about the FCC\u2019s actions.\u00a0 \u201cThe significant regulatory impact of reclassifying broadband service is not something that should be taken lightly and should not be done without additional direction from Congress,\u201d the letter reads.\u00a0 \u201cWe urge you not to move forward with a proposal that undermines critically important investment in broadband and the jobs that come with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also released yesterday was a similar letter<\/a> to the FCC Chairman signed by 37 Senate Republicans.\u00a0 The Senators wrote:<\/p>\n

We are deeply disappointed by your recent announcement that you intend to reclassify broadband Internet access services as telecommunications services subject to Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.\u00a0 This move will deter further private sector investment in broadband networks, will negatively impact innovation, and ultimately harm consumers.\u00a0 We strongly encourage you to abandon this drastic action, and to continue the successful policy of leaving the Internet free from common carrier regulations.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The people have spoken.\u00a0 The courts have spoken.\u00a0 And now, a bipartisan and sizable group of elected officials in Congress have spoken.\u00a0 Will Obama\u2019s FCC finally listen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an effort to circumvent a unanimous federal appeals court ruling, the Federal Communications Commission (\u201cFCC\u201d) announced earlier this month that it will pursue a \u201cthird way\u201d to obtain regulatory control over the Internet.\u00a0 Specifically, lacking the straightforward authority to impose burdensome and unnecessary regulations on the World Wide Web, the FCC is now seeking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1074,84,188,346,148,1229],"class_list":["post-5437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-comcast-v-fcc","tag-congress","tag-fcc","tag-federal-communications-commission","tag-net-neutrality","tag-title-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5437"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5460,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437\/revisions\/5460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}