New FCC Chairman Targets internet

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Instead of managing traffic in response to market forces, ISPs would be forced to cede such decisions to the FCC, which would decide which practices are "fair" and "reasonable" on a "case-by-case basis." [snip]

The FCC has proven either unwilling or unable to competently regulate its current spheres of influence. The United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit provided Exhibit A in an August decision that can be described only as a public embarrassment.

The court vacated the FCC's longstanding rule limiting a single cable company to no more than 30 percent of the market's overall premium television service. The judges -- who recognized the rise of satellite and fiber-optic TV delivery into the market, even if the commission remained willingly blind -- called the rule "arbitrary and capricious."

It takes quite a dose of hubris to propose micromanaging an even more vibrant Internet industry in the wake of that humiliation, and profoundly foolish to replace the swift judgment of millions of consumers with the dictates of a handful of slow-footed, uninformed, unaccountable bureaucrats.

Undeterred, however, Genachowski said Monday the FCC intends to do just that...

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