In a landmark court decision handed down on April 6, 2010, a Federal appeals court ruled for Comcast and against the FCC on key Net Neutrality case

According to the above press report, the “unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel was a setback for the FCC because it questioned the agency’s authority to regulate broadband. That could cause problems beyond the FCC’s effort to adopt official net neutrality regulations. It also has serious implications for the ambitious national broadband-expansion plan released by the FCC last month. The FCC needs the authority to regulate broadband so that it can push ahead with some of the plan’s key recommendations.”

In a radio interview on NPR’s Marketplace the day the court’s Comcast decision was released, Cecilia Kang, technology reporter for the Washington Post, discussed the consumer implications of the court’s decision and its effects on the FCC’s National Broadband Plan.

And in an article entitled, “Net Neutrality is Anti-Consumer,” the editors of the_National Review_ offered up a very thorough piece of analysis regarding the court’s Comcast ruling, explaining why efforts toward government regulation of the Internet will not benefit consumers. In order to overcome their loss in the courts, the National Review editors report that, “Net-neutrality backers, of whom FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is one, have suggested that the FCC should reclassify the Internet as a ‘telecommunications service’ rather than an ‘information service’ in order to gain the regulatory authority it currently lacks.”

Reclassification of the Internet under the FCC’s Title II provisions, however, presents its own set of problems for the Commission. Not only is reclassification legally questionable, but it would almost certainly put the brakes on innovation and future network investment in the Internet.

The FCC could continue to attempt to gain regulatory control of the Internet through reclassification and/or ask Congress to pass statutory changes which grant the Commission that authority, but that could end up being a case study in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The existing regulatory environment for the Internet has been working – innovation and new technology has flourished. Private investment coupled with entrepreneurial spirit has created a booming Internet industry – a success story in an otherwise troubled economy.

MCA believes that the FCC’S goal of seeking to connect all of America to the promise of high-speed Internet is a good one. But public policies and regulatory structures that distract from that goal could be barriers to future innovation, instead of encouraging and enabling more competition and increased access to the Internet.

Additional Information on Net Neutrality

Press release from the Institute for Policy Innovation opposing net neutrality regulations

Neutering the ‘Net

Is the FCC neutralizing innovation?

Network neutrality? How about FCC neutrality?

The Day Internet Freedom Died

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